After many weeks of bounting hunting in my Viper Mk4 (PewPewPew), after many weeks of trading palladium and personal weapons across the galaxy in my Type6 (Rubadubdub), I finally had amassed a small fortune… 26 million credits! I could finally stop working in Elite Dangerous and start living!
I had done my research, I had checked the forums for advice from more experienced CMDRs, and now I was going to purchase my very first Asp Explorer! The exciting world of long distance exploration was mine! Collecting the modules I needed from many stations, the Asp-E Honey Badger was finally ready to trundle out into the stars.
Honey Badger surveys a water world
But where to first? Seasoned veterans had told me that any of the nebulas were a sight to behold up close, so I picked two beautiful blue ones and tried to plot a course in the Galaxy Map…. And couldn’t find a route them. No matter how I tried they remained distant and elusive. That’s when I realised they weren’t nebulas but two of the many dwarf galaxies orbiting the Milky Way – The Magellenic Clouds. This is especially embarrassing to me as in the real world I am an astrophysicist… awkward! I guess I now know how Edwin Hubble felt when he realised that the gaseous nebula he was observing weren’t inside the Milky Way but actually galaxies themselves!
Not pictured - 2 Blue Nebulas
I decided to take Honey Badger as close to the Magellenic Clouds as possible, to journey to the basement of the Milky Way.
Course plotted – 987 ly and 38 jumps – I was away!
I was excited to discover new systems and scan the central stars. I pored over the discovery data to see if the planets and moons were worth seeing up close. I hoped that one day my name would be seen in the “First Discovered By” line at the top of each astronomical object.
My first fuel scoop was not a exercise in elegance. I was like Icarus and flew to close the sun. My poor Honey Badger’s wings were well and truly scorched. This happened a few times. Like a moth to the thermonuclear flame I couldn’t help but be drawn to the warm lights of stars. The ship was already damaged after only 15 jumps!
I found a planet in a system nestled close to the parent star. It looked interesting and was available to be landed upon. Another adventure! With great gusto I started my first planetary descent. It was all going swimmingly until I became entranced with the heavily creased surface and forgot to keep an eye on my height and speed. I rocketed into the ground at close to 250 metres a second! There was an almighty crash, and Honey Badger shuddered across the scorched surface of the planet. Once my heart stopped jack hammering I landed on the surface and took stock of the damage… 9% My hull was at 9%! I had seriously damaged my ship.
Oh well, time to break out the SRV and have a look in the craters. SRV deployed. Hand brake released (always forget to do that) and time to make tracks. How steep is that hill? Why can’t I stop!? WHY AM I TUMBLING THROUGH EMPTY SPACE!? HERE COMES THE SURFACE! OW! OW OW! OOF! OW OW OW! SRV at 57%.... sheesh!
That's what 57% and 9% Hull remaining looks like up close
OK, let’s take stock. Honey Badger almost destroyed, SRV1 seriously damaged and I’ve only gone 500 light years or so.
I should head back. I really should. Get repaired and head out. It would be for the best…
NAAAAAAH! Let’s push on. If I’m careful It’ll all be fine.
The next 10 jumps were textbook. I scanned, I carefully scooped the stars when I could. I even landed on heavily fissured moons orbiting beautiful gas giants.
If you see any flat ground to land upon let me know
I was 5 jumps from my destination when I saw on my system Map a beautifully ringed gas giant. I hadn’t been in ice rings before I wanted to experience it for myself. I carefully entered the rings and marvelled at the beauty.
If you look closely you can see Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet hanging onto a door
Pretty, isn’t it? I gawked at the sight for ages.
See that giant ice mountain on the left of the above picture? That’s what finally did me in. Call me captain of the Space Titanic because I was done in by an iceberg! I was preparing to leave and went to hit the combination of keys on my HOTAS that would bring up next FSD destination and accidently hit the boost button. My engines roared and I plowed into the ice at over 200 metres a second.
EJECT EJECT EJECT…. BOOM!
And so ended my first exploration mission. Less than 1000 light years travelled and more than 1.1 million credits spent to rebuild Honey Badger.
I should be angry at myself. I should be sad to have lost the credits… but I am not. I am a foolhardy pilot who needs to slooooooow down, I agree, but I had a ball last night exploring the galaxy. Next time I will take a little extra time and double check everything before I do it, but I will be out again in the black as soon as possible. I’m going to make it to the basement of the galaxy!
So, If you happen across CMDR Strangelett and Honey Badger in the deep black make sure you say hello! It might be fun to explore together for a while.
If I seem to be trailing a little smoke and my rear bumper is hanging half off you’ll know I’ve had a little trouble with an errant iceberg again!
CMDR Strangelett, signing off.
Don't crash! Don't crash! Don't crash!
I had done my research, I had checked the forums for advice from more experienced CMDRs, and now I was going to purchase my very first Asp Explorer! The exciting world of long distance exploration was mine! Collecting the modules I needed from many stations, the Asp-E Honey Badger was finally ready to trundle out into the stars.
Honey Badger surveys a water world
But where to first? Seasoned veterans had told me that any of the nebulas were a sight to behold up close, so I picked two beautiful blue ones and tried to plot a course in the Galaxy Map…. And couldn’t find a route them. No matter how I tried they remained distant and elusive. That’s when I realised they weren’t nebulas but two of the many dwarf galaxies orbiting the Milky Way – The Magellenic Clouds. This is especially embarrassing to me as in the real world I am an astrophysicist… awkward! I guess I now know how Edwin Hubble felt when he realised that the gaseous nebula he was observing weren’t inside the Milky Way but actually galaxies themselves!
Not pictured - 2 Blue Nebulas
I decided to take Honey Badger as close to the Magellenic Clouds as possible, to journey to the basement of the Milky Way.
Course plotted – 987 ly and 38 jumps – I was away!
I was excited to discover new systems and scan the central stars. I pored over the discovery data to see if the planets and moons were worth seeing up close. I hoped that one day my name would be seen in the “First Discovered By” line at the top of each astronomical object.
My first fuel scoop was not a exercise in elegance. I was like Icarus and flew to close the sun. My poor Honey Badger’s wings were well and truly scorched. This happened a few times. Like a moth to the thermonuclear flame I couldn’t help but be drawn to the warm lights of stars. The ship was already damaged after only 15 jumps!
I found a planet in a system nestled close to the parent star. It looked interesting and was available to be landed upon. Another adventure! With great gusto I started my first planetary descent. It was all going swimmingly until I became entranced with the heavily creased surface and forgot to keep an eye on my height and speed. I rocketed into the ground at close to 250 metres a second! There was an almighty crash, and Honey Badger shuddered across the scorched surface of the planet. Once my heart stopped jack hammering I landed on the surface and took stock of the damage… 9% My hull was at 9%! I had seriously damaged my ship.
Oh well, time to break out the SRV and have a look in the craters. SRV deployed. Hand brake released (always forget to do that) and time to make tracks. How steep is that hill? Why can’t I stop!? WHY AM I TUMBLING THROUGH EMPTY SPACE!? HERE COMES THE SURFACE! OW! OW OW! OOF! OW OW OW! SRV at 57%.... sheesh!
That's what 57% and 9% Hull remaining looks like up close
OK, let’s take stock. Honey Badger almost destroyed, SRV1 seriously damaged and I’ve only gone 500 light years or so.
I should head back. I really should. Get repaired and head out. It would be for the best…
NAAAAAAH! Let’s push on. If I’m careful It’ll all be fine.
The next 10 jumps were textbook. I scanned, I carefully scooped the stars when I could. I even landed on heavily fissured moons orbiting beautiful gas giants.
If you see any flat ground to land upon let me know
I was 5 jumps from my destination when I saw on my system Map a beautifully ringed gas giant. I hadn’t been in ice rings before I wanted to experience it for myself. I carefully entered the rings and marvelled at the beauty.
If you look closely you can see Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet hanging onto a door
Pretty, isn’t it? I gawked at the sight for ages.
See that giant ice mountain on the left of the above picture? That’s what finally did me in. Call me captain of the Space Titanic because I was done in by an iceberg! I was preparing to leave and went to hit the combination of keys on my HOTAS that would bring up next FSD destination and accidently hit the boost button. My engines roared and I plowed into the ice at over 200 metres a second.
EJECT EJECT EJECT…. BOOM!
And so ended my first exploration mission. Less than 1000 light years travelled and more than 1.1 million credits spent to rebuild Honey Badger.
I should be angry at myself. I should be sad to have lost the credits… but I am not. I am a foolhardy pilot who needs to slooooooow down, I agree, but I had a ball last night exploring the galaxy. Next time I will take a little extra time and double check everything before I do it, but I will be out again in the black as soon as possible. I’m going to make it to the basement of the galaxy!
So, If you happen across CMDR Strangelett and Honey Badger in the deep black make sure you say hello! It might be fun to explore together for a while.
If I seem to be trailing a little smoke and my rear bumper is hanging half off you’ll know I’ve had a little trouble with an errant iceberg again!
CMDR Strangelett, signing off.
Don't crash! Don't crash! Don't crash!
