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

[Esvandiary]

That's what I thought you were going to say...guess I will be cleaning up a drive and videoing my next attempt...

I had been considering making something to at least partially automate it, using computer vision bits to screenshot each jump (I figure the 000.000-style text is pretty easy to spot); however, it's been quite a while since I did such a thing so I've been putting it off.
If it might be useful to other racers, maybe I should dust off the idea and have a go!

Stretch goals did include OCRing the system name and jump distance out to completely automate it, but I don't know if that's a bridge too far.

 

[Alec Turner]

Not sure if he's posted in here, but there's a fresh face who's going to be streaming a run live on Twitch from 2pm GMT today (if my time zone maths is correct...), barring any catastrophes I haven't heard about in the last day or two. He's had the game a month or so, and clearly isn't wasting any time in seeing the sights!
His name is FunnyGuy77, and his Twitch stream is here; I'll probably hop on in the chat until I go to bed tonight, would be great to have other racers around too

Thanks for the tip, I'll definitely try and pop in for a bit. Nothing like doing BBRA vicariously

 

[mw_aurora]

I had been considering making something to at least partially automate it, using computer vision bits to screenshot each jump (I figure the 000.000-style text is pretty easy to spot); however, it's been quite a while since I did such a thing so I've been putting it off.
If it might be useful to other racers, maybe I should dust off the idea and have a go!

Stretch goals did include OCRing the system name and jump distance out to completely automate it, but I don't know if that's a bridge too far.

Now that is a brilliant idea...although how many of us are actually analysing our run data to that extent? Whilst I would love to sit here and encourage you to spend hours on the problem so I get the benefit, my conscience won't let me

 

[FoxTwo]

Might I suggest a slightly different tack for route analyses?

How about looking at the debug logs? Wouldn't system name + distance be in there? 3rd party route planning tools used to use them before the Galaxy Map started plotting 1,000 LY routes and sorta rendered them obsolete....

 

[Rankaze]

Might I suggest a slightly different tack for route analyses?

How about looking at the debug logs? Wouldn't system name + distance be in there? 3rd party route planning tools used to use them before the Galaxy Map started plotting 1,000 LY routes and sorta rendered them obsolete....

Argh! Now you are giving me ideas...

For work-related reasons, I have been tempted to set up a Splunk Free server at home for a while, just to get some practice using Splunk on a regular basis (I'm an administrator on our Splunk Enterprise system at work, but I don't get to use it much, so my mastery of things like the search language is not what it could be). This would be an ideal sort of "personal project" use for it, too... indexing and analyzing game logs is one of the things I was thinking of doing anyway.

Pain in the butt to set it up and secure it, though...

 

[mw_aurora]

Might I suggest a slightly different tack for route analyses?

How about looking at the debug logs? Wouldn't system name + distance be in there? 3rd party route planning tools used to use them before the Galaxy Map started plotting 1,000 LY routes and sorta rendered them obsolete....

I use EDDiscovery2 as a system log and jump times but it doesn't have distances as they are no longer recorded in the logs (as I understand it). It can get distances from EDSC, which is slowly charting the galaxy, but it is understandably far from complete and relies on CMDRs sending in data.

It does give you instant access to your jump times though - handy for pacing

 

[Raiko]

Might I suggest a slightly different tack for route analyses?

How about looking at the debug logs? Wouldn't system name + distance be in there? 3rd party route planning tools used to use them before the Galaxy Map started plotting 1,000 LY routes and sorta rendered them obsolete....

Unfortunately the third party tools like the ED Discovery tool need you to manually add each system into the community database if you're the first to visit. You enter the exact Galmap distances to 5 known stars and the new star position is triangulated.

The verbose mode logs from the game only give the system name and the time you arrived.

I'm going to add at least two systems per day to the database to plot my "scenic route" journey back from Sadge this time, but unfortunately it's not possible to use these tools to accurately plot your Buckyball Run.

EDIT: Ninja'd by mjmw!

 

[TunaMage]

Here's a question for y'all... any of you have theme music for your run?

My BBR A* playlist started with my choice of theme, and anytime I felt like I needed to mentally reset and regain my focus, I restarted with it.

That song was Jerry Reed's "Eastbound and Down", from Smokey and the Bandit.

Seemed appropriate, making the run in a Hauler.

Ha, interesting topic, and points of view on music....

Looking at a different angle to this topic, I have about a 1 hour commute in my car to work and back each way and I listen to the radio when I drive. In about the last month or so, (since I've got video recording for ED set up), whenever a new song comes up on the radio, without fail now I think about if it would make a good soundtrack to a buckyball run highlights video. Most would not, but I find myself smiling at those that would...

Funny how this game can influence RL, even when you're away from it

 

[Esvandiary]

Now that is a brilliant idea...although how many of us are actually analysing our run data to that extent? Whilst I would love to sit here and encourage you to spend hours on the problem so I get the benefit, my conscience won't let me

Too late. (I'd already started thinking about how I could do it, the battle was pretty much over at that point )
Initial results are promising - I seem to have pretty decent detection of the "000.000"-esque text, so at the very least I can automate it pulling screenshots of each jump. Now let's see if I can do more...

And yeah FoxTwo, I did consider the debug log strategy but as others said I didn't believe it gave you the distance.

 

[Alec Turner]

I've been trying to resist getting too sucked into the old music discussion because I'm a MASSIVE music fan and could go on about this for hours, but I was just playing around and found a fabulous illustration of how music can totally affect the mood and energy of the game.

So, my original Buckyball video features a wonderfully quirky piece of music by Geoff Muldaur from the Terry Gilliam "Brazil" soundtrack which adds a strangely detached, carefree and daydream like quality to the action.

[video=youtube;nm-jkI4UUy8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm-jkI4UUy8[/video]

However, if you mute the volume of the video and play this over the top instead (press Play when you see the takeoff) ..

[video=youtube;QoYiQ8Qsozk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoYiQ8Qsozk[/video]

.. then the journey seems far more aggressive, cynical and urgent.

Damn ... actually that buzzcocks piece works really really well

Anyway, what I was going to say was that I generally play Elite without external music because I love the in-game soundtrack, but doing BBRA was a special case where I NEEDED music to keep my energy and enthusiasm up at times when I could easily have otherwise become complacent (i.e. the music actually helped to improve my concentration rather than distract me from it, energizing actions that at times would otherwise have become dull and monotonous).

I would ask any doubters of this to just try taking off and doing a quick run somewhere with this playing in the background ..

[video=youtube;JskztPPSJwY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JskztPPSJwY[/video]

I dare you not to fly that run like a damn fired up, fuel scooping madman. In fact I'm willing to bet you'd do the run faster (if you didn't go down in a glorious fireball on route that is)

 

[mw_aurora]

Looks like I have clearance to run again, so here is my official entry (if I can reach the top of the pile - someone has got a bit of paperwork to do when they get back from holiday )

CMDR Rusticolus
Running Bare
Hauler

Looks like I should be launching Saturday - anyone else heading out then?

 

[Ceska_Zbrojovka]

After looking at my work roster for next week.
I'm probably going to need a psychiatric assessment.
As I'm most likely going to run again on Monday.

After returning from my previous attempt my Lakon Type-6 "Hakudo Maru" has been fitted out with Military Armor Plating, a Class 5a Shield, and pretty snazzy Orange Paint.
For use as a Radio Boat for me to go into Combat Zones and resume my role as a War Correspondent for Radio Sidewinder.

However I have procured another Type-6, "Icarus" which has been stripped down to little more than a Fuel Scoop and FSD... and Green Paint.
The goal: A Sub-15hr run in a T-6

 

[fergal]

I know someone here will be happy to see this:

35.82 with A2 power, and 16T fuel tank

 

[Anuranium]

I know someone here will be happy to see this
35.82 with A2 power, and 16T fuel tank

OOoooOO! At last! I believe we have a new participant! Splendid!

 

[fergal]

Should cost about 2 mill aswell.

 

[Takaru Minari]

I know someone here will be happy to see this: [...]

Well, that looks like a substantial increase compared to the stats I'd first seen, both as a fighter and an explorer. Looks like the only real downside to it is going to be the lengthy scooping process, but for that kind of price it seems like a very capable ship indeed.

 

[Mangel]

I dare you not to fly that run like a damn fired up, fuel scooping madman.

So kind of like how I already did, but actually going fast?

 

[Rankaze]

I know someone here will be happy to see this:
http://i58.tinypic.com/ea4k5z.jpg

35.82 with A2 power, and 16T fuel tank

Better jump range than a Hauler, but it'll take longer to scoop. Still falls short of what an Asp or Conda can do, but adds another contender to the budget market.

How many tons of fuel for a max jump?

Beats the hell out of the 31.94 LY Courier I've been considerimg.

EDIT: Hmm... Assuming 5T max per jump, you could trim it down to an 8T + 4T tank setup and save another four tons... but that's only about 1% mass savings, probably not that big an increase in range.

 

[Takaru Minari]

Better jump range than a Hauler, but it'll take longer to scoop. Still falls short of what an Asp or Conda can do, but adds another contender to the budget market.

How many tons of fuel for a max jump?

Beats the hell out of the 31.94 LY Courier I've been considerimg.

5 Tons of fuel per Max Range Jump on a 5A FSD - so that's 14.6 seconds of maximum rate fuel scooping per jump. Not exactly ideal for long distance racing, but very decent for normal exploration.

 

[Esvandiary]

Just in case anyone's interested in my reasoning behind the route plotting "magic numbers": I just posted a thread (with oh-so-pretty pictures!) about my theory.