A time-trial race event open for nine days on all gaming platforms. A test of skill for interstellar ambulance pilots and speed enthusiasts of all kinds.
The Story:
“Alright candidates, listen up.”
The pilot briefing room aboard Harris Hospital Station fell silent as the Director of the Interstellar Ambulance Group approached a podium in front of the newest class of Commanders seeking to earn the silver-winged caduceus. They had come a long way during training, but the final challenge remained.
“As demonstrated by the growing threats facing humanity throughout occupied space, the need for competent ambulance pilots has never been greater. As we saw out in the Pleiades, anyone can stuff a T-9 full of scared station inhabitants and truck them out to a waiting megaship, but severely injured people can’t travel that way. We need true medical evacuation ships, with flight paramedics and proper equipment on board, that can keep patients alive on the way to a full size medical installation. Our predecessors learned this in battle, and their call sign was ‘DUSTOFF’. The first among them pioneered the use of early VTOL craft called helicopters for this purpose. They pulled patients out of murky jungles, or off the side of cliffs, or from stricken vessels at sea. You will follow in their footsteps, for after all these centuries, the only real difference in our work is scale. When there’s an accident at an asteroid mining outpost, or workers are injured constructing a starport, the only thing that can bridge the light-years between them and the nearest hospital station is a speedy ship.
“Today you will undertake the practical check-flight, which is designed to test your skills in all medevac mission tasks. You will work the navigation systems while making rapid approaches and departures; you will respond to incidents on planetary surfaces and in orbit. If you control your nerves and prevent simple mistakes, you will succeed.
“You will be flying the Dolphin Standard Space Ambulance, and we will see who finishes at the top of the class. However, to make things more interesting I’ve invited the most reckless- er, daring pilot organization in the galaxy, the Buckyball Racing Club, to set times in their highly customized ships. Let’s see if any of you can beat them by skill and wit, in which case you might get an early upgrade to the Diamondback Advanced Rescue Ambulance. This will also be a perfect opportunity to see if any of those racing pilots can put together a build that is faster and cheaper than what we’ve been using, or at least demonstrate the viability of modified drives to the Safety Board.
“You’ll find the necessary mission information is being transferred to you flight computers now. I suggest you review the route and parameters carefully. Good luck Commanders.”
Memorial Station Names History:
Charles L. Kelly was a U.S. Army pilot during the Vietnam War, and was the Commanding Officer of the 57th Medical Detachment (Helicopter Ambulance). He was called "Crazy Kelly" and "Mad Man Kelly" for his willingness to fly into danger to rescue the wounded.
Kelly was killed in action on July 1, 1964, when, after being urged by troops on the ground to depart a dangerous landing zone even though not everyone had been loaded on board yet, he replied, "When I have your wounded-" and was cut off by a bullet that pierced his heart. The rest of his crew survived the subsequent crash and were rescued.
Later on, an officer tossed the bullet which had killed Kelly on a desk in front of his successor, Patrick Henry Brady, and asked if they were going to stop flying so aggressively. Brady picked up the bullet and replied, "we are going to keep flying exactly the way Kelly taught us to fly, without hesitation, anytime, anywhere."
On his second tour of duty, Brady was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. (Read the citation) He flew over 2,000 combat missions and evacuated more than 5,000 wounded personnel. He eventually retired as a Major General on September 1, 1993.
Race Rules:
Ship Classes:
There are two classes, and Commanders can compete in either or both.
The Dolphin Standard Class, which must match the linked build exactly, engineer modification is not allowed.
The ship and all relevant modules can be found at Velazquez Ring in LTT 17102, not far from Miola.
The Experimental Class, which must adhere to the following:
- Small or Medium Ship
- Less than 5 million Cr baseline ship cost (hull only, modules may exceed this)
- Excluding the Dolphin and Diamondback Explorer (already existing ambulance platforms)
List of authorized ships:
Sidewinder
Eagle
Hauler
Adder
Imperial Eagle
Viper
Cobra Mk III
Viper Mk IV
Diamondback Scout
Cobra Mk IV
Type-6 Transporter
Imperial Courier
Keelback
Asp Scout
Vulture
Eagle
Hauler
Adder
Imperial Eagle
Viper
Cobra Mk III
Viper Mk IV
Diamondback Scout
Cobra Mk IV
Type-6 Transporter
Imperial Courier
Keelback
Asp Scout
Vulture
- Shields and/or upgraded hull strength are recommended, but not required
- Engineer modified modules ARE allowed
- Collector limpet controllers are NOT allowed
- Offensive weaponry is NOT allowed
Race Sequence:
Begin with your ship docked in Miola, at Harris Hospital. Time starts when you launch from here.
Complete the following missions as quickly as possible, considering the 2T cargo capacity limit:
Medical Resupply Request: The small clinic at Kelly Legacy has run out of donor blood for transfusions and needs you to bring fresh supplies from Harris Hospital immediately.
What: 1T of any cargo from the commodities market
From: Miola, Harris Hospital
To: Asgara, A 1 a, Kelly Legacy
Planetary Evacuation Request: Listening posts have picked up an emergency-locator-transponder signal from these coordinates, find the downed ship and bring the pilot to Zelano Medical Installation for evaluation.From: Miola, Harris Hospital
To: Asgara, A 1 a, Kelly Legacy
What: 1T of cargo found at the pick up site
From: Leucos, A 5 a, -36.128, -45.243
To: Zelano, A 4, Medical Installation
Interfacility Patient Transfer Request: This patient has just come out of surgery at Brady Station but needs to be transferred to the long term intensive care unit at Zelano Medical Installation to have hope of a full recovery.From: Leucos, A 5 a, -36.128, -45.243
To: Zelano, A 4, Medical Installation
What: 1T of any cargo from the commodities market
From: Triton, Brady Station
To: Zelano, A 4, Medical Installation
Deep Space Evacuation Request: Anonymous eyewitness reports indicate that a vicious battle was fought here, so beware of debris and hostile ships. Survivors may be in bad shape so bring them directly to Harris Hospital.From: Triton, Brady Station
To: Zelano, A 4, Medical Installation
What: 1T of cargo found at the signal source
From: Algol, A 3, Unidentified Signal Source
To: Miola, Harris Hospital
From: Algol, A 3, Unidentified Signal Source
To: Miola, Harris Hospital
Time stops when all missions are complete and you touch down at Harris Hospital, ready for follow on assignments.
General Rules and Notes:
-One ton of any type of cargo will suffice as a mock ‘patient’ or ‘load of medical supplies’ for this challenge.
(something theme appropriate might not be available in the commodities markets or at the crash sites)
-You are limited to a single flight paramedic, so a maximum of two ‘patients’ may be carried on board simultaneously.
(1E grade, 2T capacity cargo rack limit for both race classes)
-Although all stations on this route support large ships, interstellar ambulances must be able to respond to outposts.
(Only small or medium size ships *excluding Dolphin and DBX* are authorized for the Experimental Class)
-Patients on planet surfaces must be retrieved to your ship using the SRV.
-Patients in space must be retrieved using the cargo scoop. (no limpet controllers)
-Zelano Medical Installation utilizes a special airlock tunnel to rapidly handle incoming ambulances without the need for standard docking procedures. Simply fly into the tunnel, stop near the center, jettison your cargo, and continue.
-The crash site on Leucos, A 5 a, -36.128, -45.243 has scannable points that will cause it to appear on your nav panel for future reference after your first visit (see Bonus Challenge below).
-NS/WD boosting is allowed, but you may not begin the race pre-charged from a double boost.
-Jumponium FSD injection is not allowed.
-The race may be run in any game mode, but it is fun to play it in open. It is highly likely that you will encounter other friendly Buckyballers, and unlikely that you will encounter hostile players at the race checkpoints.
Schedule:
The race will be open for
Submission Info:
Before you begin, it is customary (but not required) to post a reply in this thread declaring your intent to race by stating your CMDR name (if different from forum name), race class, ship type, and ship name. For bonus fun, post a picture of an air ambulance from your country or city of origin, and attempt to match the paintwork on your ship, for example:
The Swiss use a typical red/white but you will find a huge variety by image searching for various countries/cities.
Race entries may be submitted via
If using screenshots to verify your entry, the following are required and the clock must be visible in #2-#8:
1. Ship Modules Panel (required regardless of entry class)
2. Docked in Harris Hospital (don’t forget to load 1T ‘medical supplies’)
3. Docked at Kelly Legacy, with ‘cargo jettisoned’ displayed
4. In SRV on Leucos A 5 a, with ‘cargo acquired’ displayed
5. Docked at Brady Station, with the commodities page open (load 1T ‘patient’)
6. In the tunnel at Zelano Medical Installation, speed less than 30m/s with ‘cargo jettisoned’ displayed
7. In the Unidentified Signal Source near Algol A 3, with ‘cargo acquired’ displayed
8. Docked at Harris Hospital
2. Docked in Harris Hospital (don’t forget to load 1T ‘medical supplies’)
3. Docked at Kelly Legacy, with ‘cargo jettisoned’ displayed
4. In SRV on Leucos A 5 a, with ‘cargo acquired’ displayed
5. Docked at Brady Station, with the commodities page open (load 1T ‘patient’)
6. In the tunnel at Zelano Medical Installation, speed less than 30m/s with ‘cargo jettisoned’ displayed
7. In the Unidentified Signal Source near Algol A 3, with ‘cargo acquired’ displayed
8. Docked at Harris Hospital
Bonus Challenge: Master Navigator
The crash site at Leucos, A 5 a, -36.128, -45.243 will have to be found by traditional compass and coordinate navigation on your first visit. However, once you scan it’s data points with your SRV, it will be saved in your nav panel and may be selected and flown directly on subsequent runs. Since some players may have visited and scanned this site in the course of their regular gameplay prior to the event, and there is no way to verify that players are not using this expedient without video, it is the default method for the race. This bonus challenge is simple, but a video-capture method of submission is required. Fly the race without scanning the crashed ship, so that you have to arrive at the site purely by manual navigation. Prove to the world that you have orbital cruise flight! Don’t just win the race, win it in style. CMDRs that take on this bonus option will be highlighted on the leaderboards for bragging rights (or an additional board will be established if interest is high).
Leaderboards:
Update as of: 111800FEB3304
Submission period complete
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