We have had multiple people search and try, you're welcome to give it a shot yourself.
Distant Worlds 3 - "The Shoulder of Orion" Colonization Event
- Thread starter Andrew Gaspurr
- Start date
So this is over now and I want to say a HUGE "Thank you" to all the people that helped me on Discord (same username there).
I played for almost 2000 hours on PS until that galaxy was quarantined. it just didn't feel "right" any longer. Especially after (the?) gorgeous DW2. I still checked every now and then the forums and reddit for ED stuff since then … but not very often.
I've been pondering for those interim years to switch to PC but I'm just not a PC gamer. My laptop is for work and I don't even know my ways around windows … so transfering to PC was just too much of a hassle. The good side of that was, that I missed the "long dry streak" the last two years (or so).
By pure luck I once more checked reddit for new ED content a day before the trailblazers update and that got me all very excited. Together with a growing sadness because I really missed ED I finally had enough of an incentive to switch to PC … So I asked my son if I can borrow his gaming laptop. To my surprise the answer was yes. Fortunately he's much more interested in his guitar and socializing with other people in the real world than gaming.
And then The Shoulder of Orion event started. I became a member of Team Bravo and voluntered for the nightshift since I usually didn't manage to log on before around 11 pm London time (midnight my time) so I never saw the really busy days and couldn't stay on for hours on end. I still had a blast like I haven't had since DW2 (especially after I became part of a (the?) player group (it was pretty lonely in open).
And the chatter on Discord was also fun … it just added sooo much to the overall experience.
All in all, I don't regret (finally) transfering to PC and am very much looking forward to the next stage of the project. YOU gals and guys are just awesome!
I played for almost 2000 hours on PS until that galaxy was quarantined. it just didn't feel "right" any longer. Especially after (the?) gorgeous DW2. I still checked every now and then the forums and reddit for ED stuff since then … but not very often.
I've been pondering for those interim years to switch to PC but I'm just not a PC gamer. My laptop is for work and I don't even know my ways around windows … so transfering to PC was just too much of a hassle. The good side of that was, that I missed the "long dry streak" the last two years (or so).
By pure luck I once more checked reddit for new ED content a day before the trailblazers update and that got me all very excited. Together with a growing sadness because I really missed ED I finally had enough of an incentive to switch to PC … So I asked my son if I can borrow his gaming laptop. To my surprise the answer was yes. Fortunately he's much more interested in his guitar and socializing with other people in the real world than gaming.
And then The Shoulder of Orion event started. I became a member of Team Bravo and voluntered for the nightshift since I usually didn't manage to log on before around 11 pm London time (midnight my time) so I never saw the really busy days and couldn't stay on for hours on end. I still had a blast like I haven't had since DW2 (especially after I became part of a (the?) player group (it was pretty lonely in open).
And the chatter on Discord was also fun … it just added sooo much to the overall experience.
All in all, I don't regret (finally) transfering to PC and am very much looking forward to the next stage of the project. YOU gals and guys are just awesome!
Impressive progress. The video shows it progressing quickly:
edastro.com
Elite:Dangerous Astrometrics
edastro.com
Eagerly awaiting the next episode
NGC 1981 Sector ZU-Y d27, 3311 AD (Not A Tim)
“Timotheus,” the man in the grey overall said matter-of-factly. He stood there, casually leaning against a cargo terminal, hands in his pockets while apparently — but half absently — watching the loading and unloading of what must be hundreds of Transorbital Dynamics cargo crates. The big ones.
“What?” the woman asked.
“Timotheus.” He now deigned to look at her, equally casually. But no, not that casually, she observed. “Either call me that or Mr. Haddard if you really want to be more formal. But I’m no Tim. I hate it.”
“Sorry,” the woman in the tech outfit said. She didn’t look sorry, though. She was nearly as tall as the man and her blonde ponytail was hidden away by a service cap. She also had a few freckles and wrinkles but apart from that she looked quite ordinary; a female tech worker working in, well, tech jobs. She didn’t even have a corp badge on her uniform.
“The terminal staff told me to call you Tim,” she remarked. “Guess they just wanted to make it awkward for me then.” She shrugged.
“It’s all good. Who would have thunk this Orion thing would be a magnet to all kinds of galactic miscreants? There’s some weird folk arriving with every new liner.” He smiled a broad smile.
“Sure.” She took a step towards him, stopped and looked around.
“Sorry, what was your name again?”
“Nadya.”
“Just Nadya?”
“Nadya Holdstock.” A faint smile and a mocked curtsy.
“Pleisure.” He looked at her uniform, apparently looking for a badge, conspicuously close to her breast pockets. “You work in tech, Nadya? Looking for supplies maybe?”
She looked down at herself, then smiled again. “Am I that easy to read then?"
“Kind of. I have been dealing with tekkies most of my life and since you don’t make a fool out of yourself running around in one of these stupid cowboy pilot suits or wearing an Artemis brimming with microscopes, well, it doesn’t leave many options.”
“Perceptive. And what is your perspective on all this?” She waved her arms in the general direction of the newly constructed spaceport.
“It’s been a hell of a ride since 15 Caeli. I also remember the construction of Obsidian Orbital in the Seven Sisters ten years ago. It was monumental back then. But this…” He nodded towards the heavy haulers on the landing pads. “This is beyond the pale.”
“Yeah,” she said. “Advances in civilian frameshift technology coupled with the industrious spirit of adventure and the availability of commercial capital ships … yada yada.”
“I see Sirius lost a PR pro there.” He chuckled.
“What are you still doing here anyway, Timotheus? All the major traders have left for the Bubble with a few of them planning to check on the Witch Head Enclave first. It’s been more than a year since they were overrun. As far as I know there are only two trading clans left.”
“Right. In the first weeks people were willing to throw around much extra cash for fast deliveries. Prefab outpost parts were on the hit list, comms equipment and modular habs, too. Then booze, tea and simple foodstuff. I guess some traders now fly their T-9’s in golden paint jobs.”
“But you’re not going with them?” She nodded towards a T-9 that was just taking off. It had the distinct orange and yellow striped paint job of the ‘De Muro’ Old Worlds trading clan.
“Yeah, going back to Leesti would have its pros.” He weighed his head. “But with all this bustling activity going on here, ships coming and going and one or two material shortages there’s also opportunity here. The trading lanes in the Bubble are all beaten tracks. We know them by heart now. This OCI could become a goldmine.”
“So trading clans then, huh?”
“No kidding. The trading clans have been around for eight hundred years now so we know our turf. It is said the first Old Worlders refitted some mustered-out Terran cruisers back then and made them into the first trading barges. Some say they even had docking claws for Panther Clippers.”
“I saw some holo-novels about the trading clans back in the day. They are either outrageously accurate about owning the Lave Cluster, even before GalCop. Or they are hopelessly romanticized about a time that never even existed.”
He smiled a broad smile at her: “A bit of both, as always. GalCop relied on the trading lanes we established after the Faraway Jump sh*t became obsolete. Remember the specs of the old Boa maybe? That ship was a clan idea. Size of a Python but maxed out cargo. We knew the routes, we knew the tools. We just needed someone to build them.”
She looked at him with more than a bit of disbelief.
“What? Glory days, Nadya.”
“So the clans are still major players today?”
“Nah, profits are dry and some folk just moved on. Just ask Lei Cheung why he settled down and sells shield tech today.”
“You know him?”
“Yeah. He used to run trades with the other Cheungs in their own trading cruisers. Mostly Leesti to Sirius and back. Word is he ‘retired’ because of some fallout after the Riedquat heist in ‘94. Calls himself an Engineer now and apparently he’s quite good at it.”
“Back to the here and now then,” she said. “You aren’t leaving with the last clan ships, you see opportunity here, you are broke…”
“Hey!”
“You are low on funds,” she corrected. “And you could use a few customers who are in need of, let’s say many things.”
“What are you saying, Nadya?”
“The Orion story won’t end here,” she said, meeting his gaze. She smiled a brief smile. “Not by a long shot. This location will be the launch site for one of the biggest deep space expeditions mankind has ever seen.”
“Yeah,” he said, looking up at one of the newly installed holo ads. “The Orion Colony Initiative awaits you!” he read. “Sounds promising … and lucrative. Lots of refineries springing up here and there.”
“I could throw in a word or two for you if you’re interested.”
“You have good relations to the honchos in charge then I reckon? You work for them?”
“Yes and yes. Partly. But let’s just say I’m quite at liberty in choosing my business partners. And I have a full purse and a full shopping list.”
He looked at her, now not so casually anymore.
“Why lie to you? If you choose to stay here, there’s work and cash waiting for you — if you want it.”
He just nodded, slowly as if his brain was already calculating his margins.
“So you’re not thinking of going back?” she asked.
“Not with such a beautiful sight.” He smiled at her.
She just smiled back, kind of. She wasn’t sure if he meant the backdrop of Barnard’s Loop … or her. It was confusing. No, these Old Worlders were confusing. But useful…
“Timotheus,” the man in the grey overall said matter-of-factly. He stood there, casually leaning against a cargo terminal, hands in his pockets while apparently — but half absently — watching the loading and unloading of what must be hundreds of Transorbital Dynamics cargo crates. The big ones.
“What?” the woman asked.
“Timotheus.” He now deigned to look at her, equally casually. But no, not that casually, she observed. “Either call me that or Mr. Haddard if you really want to be more formal. But I’m no Tim. I hate it.”
“Sorry,” the woman in the tech outfit said. She didn’t look sorry, though. She was nearly as tall as the man and her blonde ponytail was hidden away by a service cap. She also had a few freckles and wrinkles but apart from that she looked quite ordinary; a female tech worker working in, well, tech jobs. She didn’t even have a corp badge on her uniform.
“The terminal staff told me to call you Tim,” she remarked. “Guess they just wanted to make it awkward for me then.” She shrugged.
“It’s all good. Who would have thunk this Orion thing would be a magnet to all kinds of galactic miscreants? There’s some weird folk arriving with every new liner.” He smiled a broad smile.
“Sure.” She took a step towards him, stopped and looked around.
“Sorry, what was your name again?”
“Nadya.”
“Just Nadya?”
“Nadya Holdstock.” A faint smile and a mocked curtsy.
“Pleisure.” He looked at her uniform, apparently looking for a badge, conspicuously close to her breast pockets. “You work in tech, Nadya? Looking for supplies maybe?”
She looked down at herself, then smiled again. “Am I that easy to read then?"
“Kind of. I have been dealing with tekkies most of my life and since you don’t make a fool out of yourself running around in one of these stupid cowboy pilot suits or wearing an Artemis brimming with microscopes, well, it doesn’t leave many options.”
“Perceptive. And what is your perspective on all this?” She waved her arms in the general direction of the newly constructed spaceport.
“It’s been a hell of a ride since 15 Caeli. I also remember the construction of Obsidian Orbital in the Seven Sisters ten years ago. It was monumental back then. But this…” He nodded towards the heavy haulers on the landing pads. “This is beyond the pale.”
“Yeah,” she said. “Advances in civilian frameshift technology coupled with the industrious spirit of adventure and the availability of commercial capital ships … yada yada.”
“I see Sirius lost a PR pro there.” He chuckled.
“What are you still doing here anyway, Timotheus? All the major traders have left for the Bubble with a few of them planning to check on the Witch Head Enclave first. It’s been more than a year since they were overrun. As far as I know there are only two trading clans left.”
“Right. In the first weeks people were willing to throw around much extra cash for fast deliveries. Prefab outpost parts were on the hit list, comms equipment and modular habs, too. Then booze, tea and simple foodstuff. I guess some traders now fly their T-9’s in golden paint jobs.”
“But you’re not going with them?” She nodded towards a T-9 that was just taking off. It had the distinct orange and yellow striped paint job of the ‘De Muro’ Old Worlds trading clan.
“Yeah, going back to Leesti would have its pros.” He weighed his head. “But with all this bustling activity going on here, ships coming and going and one or two material shortages there’s also opportunity here. The trading lanes in the Bubble are all beaten tracks. We know them by heart now. This OCI could become a goldmine.”
“So trading clans then, huh?”
“No kidding. The trading clans have been around for eight hundred years now so we know our turf. It is said the first Old Worlders refitted some mustered-out Terran cruisers back then and made them into the first trading barges. Some say they even had docking claws for Panther Clippers.”
“I saw some holo-novels about the trading clans back in the day. They are either outrageously accurate about owning the Lave Cluster, even before GalCop. Or they are hopelessly romanticized about a time that never even existed.”
He smiled a broad smile at her: “A bit of both, as always. GalCop relied on the trading lanes we established after the Faraway Jump sh*t became obsolete. Remember the specs of the old Boa maybe? That ship was a clan idea. Size of a Python but maxed out cargo. We knew the routes, we knew the tools. We just needed someone to build them.”
She looked at him with more than a bit of disbelief.
“What? Glory days, Nadya.”
“So the clans are still major players today?”
“Nah, profits are dry and some folk just moved on. Just ask Lei Cheung why he settled down and sells shield tech today.”
“You know him?”
“Yeah. He used to run trades with the other Cheungs in their own trading cruisers. Mostly Leesti to Sirius and back. Word is he ‘retired’ because of some fallout after the Riedquat heist in ‘94. Calls himself an Engineer now and apparently he’s quite good at it.”
“Back to the here and now then,” she said. “You aren’t leaving with the last clan ships, you see opportunity here, you are broke…”
“Hey!”
“You are low on funds,” she corrected. “And you could use a few customers who are in need of, let’s say many things.”
“What are you saying, Nadya?”
“The Orion story won’t end here,” she said, meeting his gaze. She smiled a brief smile. “Not by a long shot. This location will be the launch site for one of the biggest deep space expeditions mankind has ever seen.”
“Yeah,” he said, looking up at one of the newly installed holo ads. “The Orion Colony Initiative awaits you!” he read. “Sounds promising … and lucrative. Lots of refineries springing up here and there.”
“I could throw in a word or two for you if you’re interested.”
“You have good relations to the honchos in charge then I reckon? You work for them?”
“Yes and yes. Partly. But let’s just say I’m quite at liberty in choosing my business partners. And I have a full purse and a full shopping list.”
He looked at her, now not so casually anymore.
“Why lie to you? If you choose to stay here, there’s work and cash waiting for you — if you want it.”
He just nodded, slowly as if his brain was already calculating his margins.
“So you’re not thinking of going back?” she asked.
“Not with such a beautiful sight.” He smiled at her.
She just smiled back, kind of. She wasn’t sure if he meant the backdrop of Barnard’s Loop … or her. It was confusing. No, these Old Worlders were confusing. But useful…
Sorry, I'm sure it's mentioned here somewhere but what was the actual final target destination system for the Shoulder Of Orion expedition? In other words, what was the specific system you were making a bee-line for before folks started spreading out from there? I wanted to commemorate it in my "interesting colonisation systems" forum thread so that if people want to come and read this thread and then go and visit a system they know where to go.
After much debate and many spreadsheets (and spreadsheets to keep track of spreadsheets), the DW HQ system (NGC 1981 Sector ZU-Y d27) was eventually selected as our Target.
That's the DW HQ system? There's not much in it ... I thought you guys would have built a Coriolis or something and named it "DW HQ".
Somebody else pointed me at 2MASS J05405172-0226489 which does have "Orions Gate" ... I wonder if that would be a more appropriate system?
As a tradition, every DW expedition launches from the ground. 
You can read more about the background here:
forums.frontier.co.uk
You can read more about the background here:
Distant Worlds 3 - Introducing the Orion Colony Initiative (OCI)
DW3 Project Status #1 - Shoulder of Orion (Completed!) #2 - The Orion Colony Initiative (Pending) #3 - The Discovery & Scientific Survey - DW3 ‘Main Event’ (Jan 3312) Introduction to OCI During the early planning phases of Distant Worlds 3 (DW3), we weren’t certain whether our first major...
"Systems claimed and their intended Colony roles
- NGC 1981 Sector ZU-Y d27
Primary Infrastructure to be built: Large Planetary Port & Communication Centre."
Oh perfect, thanks - I think that was the page I’d been missing. So the large planetary port is yet to be built?As a tradition, every DW expedition launches from the ground.
You can read more about the background here:
Distant Worlds 3 - Introducing the Orion Colony Initiative (OCI)
DW3 Project Status #1 - Shoulder of Orion (Completed!) #2 - The Orion Colony Initiative (Pending) #3 - The Discovery & Scientific Survey - DW3 ‘Main Event’ (Jan 3312) Introduction to OCI During the early planning phases of Distant Worlds 3 (DW3), we weren’t certain whether our first major...
Seems so, Inara doesn't list anything else than the T1 orbital outpost in the system.
The launch system, complete with its planetary port, is scheduled to begin construction later this year—around November or December—as part of a series of events leading up to the main expedition launch in January.
Ta - system has now been added to my guide: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threa...on-systems-and-stations.638893/#post-10659743