Community Event / Creation Buckyball Run A*: What do you do when a mountain is there? Move it.

[fergal]

Nice one fergal, that seems like a pretty solid run - gz.

Thanks, 16 hours. 11 mins. Wasn't planning on doing it at all.
Certainly plenty of time to shave off it. I fell into 2 stars, my route was all over the place, at one point I was nearly 1100 LY above where I needed to go, Flying backwards away from the station probably wasted a minute too

I did a bit of scanning too, probably shouldn't have.

Not sure what my actual playing time was, Probably 11-13 hours, hard to tell, most of which I was alt-tabbed out.

Certainly some fat I could lose off the ship too, although weapons and shield might be needed now.

 

[Alec Turner]

Thanks, 16 hours. 11 mins. Wasn't planning on doing it at all.
Certainly plenty of time to shave off it. I fell into 2 stars, my route was all over the place, at one point I was nearly 1100 LY above where I needed to go, Flying backwards away from the station probably wasted a minute too

I did a bit of scanning too, probably shouldn't have.

Not sure what my actual playing time was, Probably 11-13 hours, hard to tell, most of which I was alt-tabbed out.

Certainly some fat I could lose off the ship too, although weapons and shield might be needed now.

Loved the flying out backwards start, and to pretty much just wing the whole thing like that ... you have some class my friend!

 

[Morbad]

While my 14.26 Ly jump range and need for frequent naps means I've got a solid two days of travel left, I think I'm making fair progress...over 9,000Ly out!

That's NGC 6357 about a thousand light years back the way I came:

The edge of a ring around a gas giant my detailed surface scanner says is 93% red velvet cake:

Charlene, my very favorite gun, says 'hi':

 

[insanephoton]

Well, I finally got started. Won't be a record time, but I'm not worried. Got a bit distracted by shiny stuff, so I've wasted some time scanning. hoping to reach Sag A before 1.3 drops.

 

[withnail]

I thought you had planned to go a long time back!

 

[Anuranium]

For all explorers and Buckeyballers alike; Ready to deploy beacon for anyone who comes in peace.

 

[insanephoton]

I did plan to go quite some time ago, unfortunately real life and feeling tired got in the way. My main problem now is an almost irresistible urge to scan things.

 

[ElectricZ]

Mr. Owl, how many jumps does it take to get to the center of the Milky Way Galaxy?

Alrighty boys and girls, it's time once again to turn our attention to the big board and congratulate the newest inductee into the Buckyball Run A* hall of fame! CMDR McFergus, step forward and be recognized... Well, virtually, until you get back from your trip. (In reality we just leave everything behind the bar on the Shotgun Shine. You can pick it up when you get back.)

Anyway, CMDR McFergus apparently did the Buckyball A* on the spur of the moment, taking his Lakon Type-6 the Coal Powered Cow on a day trip lasting 16 hours, 11 minutes and 51 seconds, coming in third for the class and knocking the "Fastest Type-6 in the Galaxy" down to "fifth fastest." Not bad for a what do I feel like doing today run. Here's your pip, and your bumper sticker. Remember, pm your earthbound mailing address and get a real-world BBRA* bumper sticker compliments of Bucky.

In other news, we've got two more pilots looking to get centered. CMDR Raiko turned his Asp, the Nomad around in record time (well, it broke some kind of record, somewhere, right?) and armed with his magic "Alot Plot" number is reportedly on his way back to the middle. Also taking to the black is returning three-time Buckyball veteran Mark "Insane" Photon in his Asp Void Insurance. Somehow I think if your policy holder knew what you were planning, Mark, they'd have cancelled your coverage.

Finally, a couple of pilots warming up in the bullpen looking to set class records: Peter "FoxTwo" Aldric, Buckyballer extraordinaire and apparent closet masochist is prepping his Vulture Suicide Bomber for a trip to see Sadge again. FoxTwo has already declared his intent to take the Sagittarius A* Express Lane back, which is a good thing based on how long it took him to get out and back the first time around.

Also a big welcome to CMDR Snowgust and his Adder Hyrule's Pride. We had an Adder depart but abort the run halfway through. Maybe Snowgust can seal the deal and fill in another blank for us with an Adder record. He's an observer on this channel, but everybody smile and wave so he'll think we're friendly. The more people we get signed up, the more people can contribute to the after-party cleanup fund...

Oh yeah, one last thing... Morbad, did you submit an entry? I went back through the list and didn't see your name. I'd hate to stiff you out of a bumper sticker if you're actually on the Run. Loved the pics by the way. Charlene sure is purty!

 

[fergal]

While my 14.26 Ly jump range and need for frequent naps means I've got a solid two days of travel left, I think I'm making fair progress...over 9,000Ly out!

Using the FDL, thats awesome. +1

I had a jump range of just over 29 LY.
I brought 3 heat sink launchers (fired 2 off to escape stars I fell into) and 2 Auto Repair units (without really knowing how to use them) and a A5 fuel scoop (Over 8 million with 10% discount!). My ship is worth about 10-11 million I think, so its basically a flying fuel scoop with a cockpit strapped on.

I couldn't power everything with a A2 powerplant, so had to use an A3. I didn't like the idea of what heat I would get without an "A".

Nothing really interesting to report on the trip, lots of scoopable yellow stars. 3 none scopable in a row was the worst I got, took me to about 1/2 fuel tank. Not sure if its worth the risk to downgrade the fuel tank to save weight, might be a horrible mistake, but I imagine if you want to beat the 9 hours mark you need to take risks.

Scanned some water worlds, and I was surprised how far out the stars were already scanned by someone else, for the first 10000 LY there must be a narrow corridor of systems that everyone uses to get there and back.

Route plotting was bad at the end. It took 5 or so seconds to plot 900-1000 ly when I was about 5000ly out. I thought that was bad.
The last 1000 took about 5 mins to calculate, then I got kicked form the matchmaking server. Logged back in, another 2 or so mins to plot it.
My frame rate was horrible in the galaxy map while in the center too. about 7 fps.

Although its my first trip I learnt a lot, happy to give any advice from my meager experience.

*edit, and how could I not thank ElectricZ and everyone on the list and everyone who has/is attempting the run.
Sounded like just about the stupidest race ever when I first read about it quite a while ago, still not convinced it isn't after completing it

Also special thanks to Anuranium who was about 4000LY back for most of the trip:

Minor grip, seems hi res screenshots are disabled in open now too.

 

[FoxTwo]

Ya know what? I'm upset.

No really.

I went through all that trouble to post my registration for my Vulture a few pages back, but I'm not even listed in the pre-flight portion on the latest Big Board.

Ok I get it... I'll radio back some pics and stuff when I'm out in space on the run as proof then

 

[ElectricZ]

Ya know what? I'm upset.

No really.

I went through all that trouble to post my registration for my Vulture a few pages back, but I'm not even listed in the pre-flight portion on the latest Big Board.

Ok I get it... I'll radio back some pics and stuff when I'm out in space on the run as proof then

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP.

I knew something was missing. Stand by one... Have a drink at the bar while you wait. It's lady's night so PSB's drink free. Just don't let any of them get out of hand like last time.

(ElectricZ steps behind the bar to the massive, outdated touchscreen display which controls the leaderboards. He types in a few characters, stares at the screen, and then reaches out to pick up an ax handle Mirana keeps behind the bar to deal with customers who walk the check. He swings the handle in both hands and delivers half a dozen severe blows to the machine. He squints at the display, puts the ax handle back on its bracket and takes a step back into view, giving the "OK" sign.)

We're good!

 

[Ceska_Zbrojovka]

CMDR McFergus apparently did the Buckyball A* on the spur of the moment, taking his Lakon Type-6 the Coal Powered Cow on a day trip lasting 16 hours, 11 minutes and 51 seconds, coming in third for the class and knocking the "Fastest Type-6 in the Galaxy" down to "fifth fastest."

Fifth!!
5th!
This is a Travesty.. and if I wasn't so damn busy with IRL stuff, and my RSW duties I might actually make it back to the Civ-Bubble and go again.
I seriously need to get my time to under 15hrs

Bad enough I have an aggravating little upstart from GNN beating me. But 4 other T-6's as well.. IT'S AN OUTRAGE!!

 

[Rankaze]

Run completed. Sending Z the times and the evidence.

Saw no griefer. Of course, once I arrived and got my screeshot, I popped over into solo to take some high-res shots, so he might have just been too slow.

Have video of the whole run (that actually cost me about ten minutes when Shadowplay crashed at about 18000 LY and I had to figure out how to get it working again (the background servers it runs were still running).

I'll save the actual time for the next Big Board update...

 

[ElectricZ]

Run completed. Sending Z the times and the evidence... I'll save the actual time for the next Big Board update...

(ElectricZ picks up the ax handle again and gives it a few practice swings.)

You sure you don't want me to add you now? While I'm in here?

 

[Rankaze]

(ElectricZ picks up the ax handle again and gives it a few practice swings.)

You sure you don't want me to add you to this update? While I'm in here?

If Bucky's OK with a last minute update, I'm good with it.

(Don't put yourself out on my account, but at the same time, I certainly wouldn't mind).

 

[ElectricZ]

If Bucky's OK with a last minute update, I'm good with it.

(Don't put yourself out on my account, but at the same time, I certainly wouldn't mind).

(ElectricZ disappears for a minute or two, after which several loud bangs are heard. He steps back out and picks up his drink from the bar.)

Fraid it's gonna have to wait until the next update. By the way, does anybody have a fire extinguisher handy?

 

[Rankaze]

You're talking to the wrong crowd here.

We're not explorers

EDIT: Ships blowing up are a **NORMAL** occurrence for us. Ask any Buckyballer So I don't think your ominous message is having the desired effect...

Hell, Jaryd has 19 insurance claims and 17 of them are from Buckyballing.

Gonna be 18 of 20 when I self-destruct to get back home once I decide I've got all the cool supermassive black hole screenshots I want.

Sadly, my mic went berserk, so the audio from my video I took is useless (REALLY LOUD FEEDBACK!!!!). Video itself is still good, though. At some point I'll go through the long process of picking out the good bits (read: the mistakes!) to do something with. It's a shame to lose the audio, though, since iTunes gave me "Stairway to Heaven" with three jumps to go, so it was playing when I jumped in to Sagittarius A*.

Notes from the run:
-- I arrived with 99% hull. The 1% hull loss? When shadowplay crashed my screen went black in hyperspace, and by the time I was able to End Task on Elite, I'd already run into the star.

-- I made the whole run with Sensors, Cargo Hatch, Power Distributor, and Auto Field Maintenance Units turned off (though I turned the AFMU's on when I needed them, of course). This did a lot to help keep the ship cool.

-- Even so, that unused Cargo Hatch ended at 56% (since I didn't bother repairing it) and the Power Distributor at 67%. And somehow I had a Power Distributor malfunction even with it turned off.

-- A lot of the module damage I took happened when I jumped through one of the stars inbound to a binary system. That was... an interesting experience.

-- The three AFMU's (which turned Haulin' A* into the Six Million Credit Hauler!) were definite overkill. I still had LOTS of repair capacity left when I arrived.

-- The route planner... is bad. Really bad. I don't think it is using a very good algorithm for fastest route, as it meanders way too much.

-- The last 4000 ly I couldn't get the route planner to make more than 6 jumps, and it would only do 6 if I plotted right around 204 ly (my jump range was 34.95ly, I knocked the .95 off to allow for meandering and 34*6 is 204). If I varied much up or down from 204, it wouldn't plot it at all.

-- I couldn't get it to plot me the route to Sadge even from 86 ly away. I had to plot two jumps to get close and then plot the final jump manually.

-- This... was actually way more fun than I expected. And I learned a lot from it. From previous Buckyballs I learned a whole lot about docking. This one taught me a whole lot about heat management and fuel scooping. Pretty darn cool.

Thanks again, Z, for putting out the challenge. I'd never have done this without it... and it was definitely worth it.

 

[Morbad]

Oh yeah, one last thing... Morbad, did you submit an entry? I went back through the list and didn't see your name. I'd hate to stiff you out of a bumper sticker if you're actually on the Run. Loved the pics by the way. Charlene sure is purty!

I was going to submit everything once I got there. Can I do this?

I try not to officially hype anything up, in case I explode along the way.

 

[fergal]

-- I made the whole run with Sensors, Cargo Hatch, Power Distributor, and Auto Field Maintenance Units turned off (though I turned the AFMU's on when I needed them, of course). This did a lot to help keep the ship cool.

That sounds like a sensible idea, I've got everything powered.

-- The three AFMU's (which turned Haulin' A* into the Six Million Credit Hauler!) were definite overkill. I still had LOTS of repair capacity left when I arrived.

Do you need to be in normal space to use them? I set things to the / instead of the dot in modules, but nothing seems to have repaired for me.

-- The route planner... is bad. Really bad. I don't think it is using a very good algorithm for fastest route, as it meanders way too much.

-- The last 4000 ly I couldn't get the route planner to make more than 6 jumps, and it would only do 6 if I plotted right around 204 ly (my jump range was 34.95ly, I knocked the .95 off to allow for meandering and 34*6 is 204). If I varied much up or down from 204, it wouldn't plot it at all.

I'm not even sure what you are talking about with "I knocked the .95 off to allow for meandering and 34*6 is 204". I just scrolled the map up a bit towards the brighter part and plotted 800-1000 or so LY when I ran out of jumps. Sounds like there is a much more efficient and technical way to plot routes.

-- I couldn't get it to plot me the route to Sadge even from 86 ly away. I had to plot two jumps to get close and then plot the final jump manually.

When my third last route ended I was about 1300ly from sag A*, I plotted another one for about 450ly, then the last one I was able to plot over 900ly into Sag A*. Took a while though.

Leaving Sag A* was a pain. I ended up turning on economical routes, these plot quickly.

-- This... was actually way more fun than I expected. And I learned a lot from it. From previous Buckyballs I learned a whole lot about docking. This one taught me a whole lot about heat management and fuel scooping. Pretty darn cool.

Same

 

[Rankaze]

That sounds like a sensible idea, I've got everything powered.


Do you need to be in normal space to use them? I set things to the / instead of the dot in modules, but nothing seems to have repaired for me.

Every time I repaired I was in normal space, but that's because every time I repaired, one of the things I was repairing was the frame shift drive (which, well, you can't repair while you're using it). I think they do work in supercruise, but I've never actually tried it.

I'm not even sure what you are talking about with "I knocked the .95 off to allow for meandering and 34*6 is 204". I just scrolled the map up a bit towards the brighter part and plotted 800-1000 or so LY when I ran out of jumps. Sounds like there is a much more efficient and technical way to plot routes.

When you have a really high jump range (mine was 34.95 LY), the route planner starts to REALLY break down in the core. As in, it either won't plot at all, or takes extremely excessive amounts of time. But there are some tricks you can do to help it out a bit.

One of those is to put the map in Realistic mode instead of Map mode, which helps some.

The other is plotting in multiples of your jump range, so it's easier for it to find an optimal route. But what I found was that the multiples thing worked better if I truncated it down to the integer. I'm presuming it worked better because your route is never going to be exactly a straight line, so it gives it some fudge factor.

When my third last route ended I was about 1300ly from sag A*, I plotted another one for about 450ly, then the last one I was able to plot over 900ly into Sag A*. Took a while though.

Yeah. My friend (CMDR Jaereth) who did it in a Cobra said it wasn't as bad for him, either. but his jump range was only about 25 LY, so the planner had to deal with a lot fewer possibile routes.

Leaving Sag A* was a pain. I ended up turning on economical routes, these plot quickly.

If I was planning to fly back, I'd probably do something similar. Not much point to me flying back, though... in order to get the kind of jump range I got out of a Hauler, you have to run without scanners... the discovery scanner and the detail scanner alone would have reduced my jump range by over 4 LY. So... I have no scan data to worry about. Thus, I take the explosive way home (and the rebuy on a 6 million cred hauler isn't that bad).

Same

And of course, the camaraderie and sharing of experiences that comes from Buckyballing is also part of what makes it great.

It's been an honor and a joy to be part of it.