[Distant Worlds] The hanging-by-a-thread thread

CMDR Thrope

C
I'm trying, I really am, but I'm having a hard time keeping up with the expedition, or having much fun doing it. The problem is that I find myself spending (far) too much of my gaming time grinding to waypoints and not enough exploring. (I appreciate that there is the slow boat to Beagle Point version of the expedition, but that somehow doesn't address it for me either.) But maybe that's not the whole story?

If I'm honest, I will admit that I don't much like being led by the nose through other people's journeys. Every waypoint, the pace, the whole bit, is pre-planned and closed-ended, which is the opposite of what makes exploring in ED appealing to me. In fact, I find myself chafing so much at this dynamic that when I arrived at WP8, home of the 4 ELWs, I didn't even bother to scan those lovely orbs. I don't care about planets that others have already discovered, not even for an easy couple hundred thousand credits.

It has been fun to see other explorers on the ground on some distant world, and to have some shared experiences, but when I boot my game these days, I find that I feel bored before the splash screen is done rendering.

This isn't complaining...it's a cry for help. Tell me again why I'm following a particular route, doing particular things, for next few months?
 

Zieman

Zieman
Don't stress over it.

Do your own thing, go to the waypoints on your own pace, or don't go to them at all.
 

Rikk

R
I'm not exploring very much on the way out.

Although I am flying a Clipper, keeping up is a challenge in it's own right. It's hard, really hard.

So why am I going? Well I am dreaming of the time when we all meet up at beagle point. It will be a jolly old party and one that will go down in the history books, it will truly be the party at the other side of the galaxy. Then comes the best bit, I stop being a traveller. I hop off the bus and pick my own way home.

For me Distant Worlds is as much about the journey home than the journey out there, that will take months. Lots of 'em. I will scan what I wish, take detours to see what I wish, and take my time doing it. I wouldn't make beagle point without distant worlds there to support me, it just wouldn't happen, but I'm going to have the best journey home ever!
 
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Andrew Gaspurr

Andrew Gaspurr
I think I know how you feel. Had this been my first long range exploration trip I'd be hugely disappointed as well. However, DW was also meant to create an interstellar highway to Sgr A* and also Beagle. Some folks take that quite literally.

If you feel it's too fast for you, slow down. There are the FGE wings that are doing things more slowly. And then there are always stragglers that can't or won't cope even with the pace of the FGE. Wing up with them, get into TeamSpeak and do a winged exploration thing. And tell us about it, post pictures and say what you found.

In the end, we are doing a gigantic puzzle game here so please contribute in any way you feel appropriate. :cool:
 

gooddoc

gooddoc
All my exploration to date (with the exception of my trip to Sag A*) has been away from the well beaten track of the 'Tourist Regions'.

I don't do pewpew & trading gets a bore to me after a while. So I go & explore, more so in areas where no one has been before. However up until this trip Iv always explored the Sol side of the galaxy.

This trip to Beagle Point will take me way further out than Iv ever been before, it will send me on a route to view the Tourist areas that Iv been avoiding, then when I get to Beagle point I can then do the 'proper exploration' as i make my way back to the bubble.

Its not just the trip out, but also the trip back!
 

Satsuma

Satsuma
There definitely is an element of the safari tour to this: we are following a predefined route - or at least meeting up in predefined spots - out there. For me, it's definitely a different experience than any exploration I've done in the past. Usually I follow my nose and go at a much slower pace, while this expedition is challenging me to haul ass at a rate needed to keep up with the rest of the fleet. It's worth it for me because the route hits a lot of interesting places, and because it's fun running into other CMDRs this far out.

That said, the other interesting thing about this expedition is that it doesn't end back in the bubble. If it really was just a safari tour, that's what it would do. Erimus would get us all safely home, and we'd have drinks and congratulate one another. But it ends at Beagle Point, 65,000 light years from the bubble. We're all (presumably) going to end up back home at some point, but how we get there is our own affairs. Me, I'm going to be heading back via the Sagittarius-Carina arm, to link back up with an ongoing FGE mapping project there.
 

Scal

Scal
The way points are optional. Feel free to make your own way, rejoining the fleet as and when you want. The party at BP will be worth attending, though :)
 

Macros Black

Macros Black
Just let go. Explore for yourself, by yourself. You don't need to explain or excuses to leave. Just let go.
Me? I don't mind the company, usually being in the black is lonely, this trip? not so much. Also, I have ulterior motives for joining this epic journey :)

dognosh said:
I shall be at WP7 in 2 months.....
Click to expand...

Wut?, are you going to Shrewsbury, or something?
 
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SvennoJ

SvennoJ
Take a shortcut or a detour, stay somewhere for a while. No need to stick to the itinerary.
Tbh I only make a brief appearance at each way point and go off again in some random direction or stay on a planet for a while to see the sky change while prospecting over multiple days.
It's fun to see other people around on the Galaxy map and have a chat now and then, yet you can do all that without getting somewhere on time. The journey to 65k is worth it in the end, take any path you like.

Of course it is what you make of it. The stars are the same, the view is pretty much the same as at any other place 39k from Sagittarius A*, the journey and the distance from the bubble is what make the difference.
And then you still have to go back...
 

Cula-Ta

Cula-Ta
CMDR Thrope said:
I'm trying, I really am, but I'm having a hard time keeping up with the expedition, or having much fun doing it. The problem is that I find myself spending (far) too much of my gaming time grinding to waypoints and not enough exploring. (I appreciate that there is the slow boat to Beagle Point version of the expedition, but that somehow doesn't address it for me either.) But maybe that's not the whole story?

If I'm honest, I will admit that I don't much like being led by the nose through other people's journeys. Every waypoint, the pace, the whole bit, is pre-planned and closed-ended, which is the opposite of what makes exploring in ED appealing to me. In fact, I find myself chafing so much at this dynamic that when I arrived at WP8, home of the 4 ELWs, I didn't even bother to scan those lovely orbs. I don't care about planets that others have already discovered, not even for an easy couple hundred thousand credits.

It has been fun to see other explorers on the ground on some distant world, and to have some shared experiences, but when I boot my game these days, I find that I feel bored before the splash screen is done rendering.

This isn't complaining...it's a cry for help. Tell me again why I'm following a particular route, doing particular things, for next few months?
Click to expand...

My friend, do not despair, there are many who are happy to help you. Use the comm channels to engage in friendly banter (although often weird conversation in TS, especially the candy room...).

Listen to the link below and hopefully it will help inspire you to continue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTp0eNkWsLM

o7
 

Scal

Scal
How are you doing Cmdr Thrope, are you still with us?

I'm suffering through some doubts myself at the moment. I'm enjoying DW thoroughly, but distance to sol is getting scary - what if I decide I don't like it anymore and want to get back to the bubble? With less than 2hr per night play time, I'm already 8 days of non stop jump scooping from home. I'm also wishing I was in a smaller ship, the Conda's turn rate is beginning to bug me.

I think I will push through - it's just nerves right now, there is no reason to think I will stop enjoying the journey. I decided I would share my feels, in case other cmdr's are going through a similar thing.

Fly safe DW cmdr's,

o7
 

Senik

S
I've done a few long range trips, nothing like this though. I was fine with the pace because running into people everywhere I went made it worth it.

Then I was away on vacation for a week, and sick for a few days after that. Falling behind by two waypoints changes the game entirely. Now I'm feeling a bit of what the OP mentioned -- like I'm racing through systems faster than I would if I were exploring solo, when it feels like I am exploring solo. It's a drag, but I'll get caught up and it will be good again. As others have said, the social aspect is what fills your bank so you want to keep going. If you wing up with people or hit the comm channels, and keep up at the waypoints, it really makes it a different experience.

Scal, I've been thinking the same thing lately. Somewhere in the back of my mind I'm dreading the return trip, especially if the fleet breaks up and I'm doing it solo. 65KLY is a long trip home. I'm trying not to think about it. :)

I have a feeling that this will end up being a one-way trip for a lot of people. I'm sure I'll be tempted to join them in some kind of live-streamed mass-suicide return to the bubble. Just don't tell that to the guy in the escape pod I picked up back at WP10. :D
 

Erimus Kamzel

Erimus Kamzel
Senik said:
I've done a few long range trips, nothing like this though. I was fine with the pace because running into people everywhere I went made it worth it.

Then I was away on vacation for a week, and sick for a few days after that. Falling behind by two waypoints changes the game entirely. Now I'm feeling a bit of what the OP mentioned -- like I'm racing through systems faster than I would if I were exploring solo, when it feels like I am exploring solo. It's a drag, but I'll get caught up and it will be good again. As others have said, the social aspect is what fills your bank so you want to keep going. If you wing up with people or hit the comm channels, and keep up at the waypoints, it really makes it a different experience.

Scal, I've been thinking the same thing lately. Somewhere in the back of my mind I'm dreading the return trip, especially if the fleet breaks up and I'm doing it solo. 65KLY is a long trip home. I'm trying not to think about it. :)

I have a feeling that this will end up being a one-way trip for a lot of people. I'm sure I'll be tempted to join them in some kind of live-streamed mass-suicide return to the bubble. Just don't tell that to the guy in the escape pod I picked up back at WP10. :D
Click to expand...
For those struggling to keep up and finding it hard to find other players to explore with there is the FGE flotilla that is traveling at roughly half the pace of the main fleet. They have weekly meetups at each base camp along the way, next one is base camp 9 next weekend I think. Check out their diary here : https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=214875

The journey back, although not officially part of DW, will be fine if you structure it similar to the outward bound journey. The key to keeping your sanity on these galactic crossing trips is to do it in short bursts of a few thousand LYs at a time, and not try and do it in a week or two - that's soul destroying and really not fun. Find some fleet members at Beagle Point who plan to do the DW trip in reverse, you'll reach Elite status when you get home ;) :)
 
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Kuroshio

Kuroshio
Senik said:
Scal, I've been thinking the same thing lately. Somewhere in the back of my mind I'm dreading the return trip, especially if the fleet breaks up and I'm doing it solo. 65KLY is a long trip home. I'm trying not to think about it. :)

I have a feeling that this will end up being a one-way trip for a lot of people. I'm sure I'll be tempted to join them in some kind of live-streamed mass-suicide return to the bubble. Just don't tell that to the guy in the escape pod I picked up back at WP10.
Click to expand...

Well, quite a lot of us are considering a return journey along the Sagittarius-Carina arm. For those who are afraid of being alone on the way back (and yeah, I sometimes am one of those as well), they can tag along - it probably won't be as organized a trip as Distant Worlds itself, but at least there be a chance to meet up from time to time. :)

(And don't tell the two people in my cargo hold that I'll be dropping them when I reach the abyss.)
 

Ambivalent

A
I hear you on this OP, I'm enjoying the trip but i've not followed the route, I'd flown the main highway out to Sag A before and had no desire to go over the same ground again, so i turned left at the eagle nebula and took a clockwise detour around the outside of the core flying very low through the neutron fields to keep it interesting and now i'm waiting for the fleet to catch up to me somewhere around the magnus nebula and i'm happily into new territory for me.

Just make the trip your own.
 

CMDR Thrope

C
Scal said:
How are you doing Cmdr Thrope, are you still with us?
Click to expand...

Hello! I am definitely still with the expedition. I've had the good fortune to spend the last 10 days in Miami, recharging my engines and getting my beach on. Having now unpacked and sorted through the mail (bills), I am ready for a "big fly" tonight.

I'm taking the advice of several of you and letting go of the need to slavishly hit all the waypoints. My plan is to rejoin the fleet at WP 17 or 18, but I'm not going to bother visiting those between now and there.

See you there, CMDRs, and thanks for the encouragement.

o7
 

Scal

Scal
Glad to hear it cmdr :)

I had a little wobble back there, too, at the point of going past sgr a*. Took a couple of days off, and am now enjoying myself again - WP14 was fun yesterday. Thanks for all the encouragement and advice!

o7
 
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