So I spent many hours last night landing my Asp on the edge of craters and then driving the SRV down into them, collecting materials all the time. I think I've found my new favorite hobby in Elite: crater diving!
I started on some rocky metal rich world in Diaguandri which had a small mountain in it's basin. Craters are larger than they appear from the sky, it takes some time and effort to get down into them.
I did a bit of flat land roaming out of the craters too, and it might just be me but it feels like the craters have more materials in them than the flats do? Might just be me though. Next I hopped over to a high metal content planet still in Diaguandri. Landed on the edge of a fairly shallow but hugely wide crater which sat on the edge between the day and night sides. The sun was low over the horizon and cast a great shadow over the entire crater basin, it was actually pretty bright just a hundred or so meters up in the air from here.
The sky vistas are spectacular from the planet surfaces, especially when you are on the dark sides or in the shade. Stars and nebulas just pop with brightness and color.
Then I flew on up to HR 6421 to see how the mat hunting is up there. Flew around HR6421 1 for a bit in orbital cruise admiring the awesome crater ejectas and spotted a few dried up river beds. That was enticing enough to make me swoop down and land in a river bed to do some exploring.
River beds are a fun place to explore. You can peg the throttle on the SRV and really make some distances while being surrounded on all sides by mountain walls, it was fun. Got a few new material discoveries too. After an hour there I hopped over to HR 6421 3 and after cruising around it a bit I spotted this huge crater that was so deep I couldn't even see the bottom of it. Naturally I had to land and drive down into it!
It was far deeper, and steeper, than I expected. Took me a good half hour or more of controlled sliding and falling my way to the bottom. And once HR 6421 slipped below the crater's edge it got DARK down there. What a feeling of solitude combined with mild panic as my SRV struggled to control itself on 30 - 45 degree slopes.
Once at the bottom though it flattened out mostly and I could zip around the crater basin like it was a whole different world.
I'm in love with this game all over again.
I started on some rocky metal rich world in Diaguandri which had a small mountain in it's basin. Craters are larger than they appear from the sky, it takes some time and effort to get down into them.
I did a bit of flat land roaming out of the craters too, and it might just be me but it feels like the craters have more materials in them than the flats do? Might just be me though. Next I hopped over to a high metal content planet still in Diaguandri. Landed on the edge of a fairly shallow but hugely wide crater which sat on the edge between the day and night sides. The sun was low over the horizon and cast a great shadow over the entire crater basin, it was actually pretty bright just a hundred or so meters up in the air from here.
The sky vistas are spectacular from the planet surfaces, especially when you are on the dark sides or in the shade. Stars and nebulas just pop with brightness and color.
Then I flew on up to HR 6421 to see how the mat hunting is up there. Flew around HR6421 1 for a bit in orbital cruise admiring the awesome crater ejectas and spotted a few dried up river beds. That was enticing enough to make me swoop down and land in a river bed to do some exploring.
River beds are a fun place to explore. You can peg the throttle on the SRV and really make some distances while being surrounded on all sides by mountain walls, it was fun. Got a few new material discoveries too. After an hour there I hopped over to HR 6421 3 and after cruising around it a bit I spotted this huge crater that was so deep I couldn't even see the bottom of it. Naturally I had to land and drive down into it!
It was far deeper, and steeper, than I expected. Took me a good half hour or more of controlled sliding and falling my way to the bottom. And once HR 6421 slipped below the crater's edge it got DARK down there. What a feeling of solitude combined with mild panic as my SRV struggled to control itself on 30 - 45 degree slopes.
Once at the bottom though it flattened out mostly and I could zip around the crater basin like it was a whole different world.
I'm in love with this game all over again.
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