[DW2] Commanders Log

[Nitrogue]

(Quick OOC note, this is a log of my exploits on the Distant Worlds 2 expedition. It’s partly for my own records, but if people want to follow and comment, go ahead. Haven't done any RP stuff before so any tips/suggestions/questions would be appreciated)

Commander's Log: 33050113A
Currently completing final checklist before heading out to the rendezvous system for the expedition.
Ship: √
Fuel: √
2x SRVs: √
Supplies: √
Biscuits: √
Got someone to look at Sid the Space Gerbil: √ (though they did just contact me saying they can't find him, can’t deal with that now)
Cryostabilised plants: √

Just need to cook up last meal in my flat at Galileo Station and then good to go. Oh, must remember to pick up my co-pilot Ar'ran R'geli on the way.

33050113B
Arrived at Pallaeni with plenty of time to spare.
Man, there are a lot of other pilots here, comms are going hay-wire.

Ok time for first jump, found a nice quiet corner to jump from, got a few others nearby. Was great seeing everyone ready to disembark from the Tourist beacon. R'geli looks a tad nervous. She says her home planet did a similar mass exodus once, fleet was thought lost few a few decades. Just one thing is bugging me: did I leave the oven on?

33050113C
So, it turns out that 4000 pilots attempting the same hyperspace jump may cause ruptures in the space-time fabric. we have been stuck in Witchspace for about an hour now. R'geli has that annoying I-told-you-so look on her face. Let’s just hope we get out sooner rather than later.

33050113D
Finally made it out of Witchspace and on the road (so to speak). Arrived at Fine Ring Sector JH-V C2-4 without incident. It’s nice to be following the footsteps of DW1. Quick detour to Shapley 1 and then on with the trip. Will say the new scanner probes are great, a lot of these systems have been visited before, but haven't been mapped. Going to be cataloguing some of the smaller systems, hopefully something good pops up.

33050113E
Made it to HR 6164. Crikey this system is trippy. 2 black holes, a very excited neutron star and a rather purple planet.
Visiting the tourist station wasn’t an issue, but landing at The View did cause me to lose my shields and almost 25% of my hull strength. need to be careful in the future. Fortunately, CMDR. Ainur was around and was able to patch me up, what a guy.
Supplement: Black holes are weird, never seen one before, and technically still haven't. Approached one of them slowly and didn’t see any difference, however upon leaving suddenly saw the gravity lensing in effect. That really blew my mind a tad. Don't think R'geli was too impressed, judging from the hints of green on her normal blue skin, I think the distortions may have made her a tad travel-sick. Right time to attempt a softer landing back at The View and hunker down for the night. I have a feeling this is going to be a good trip.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's log: 33050114A
Left HR 6164 without incident. Decided to travel perpendicular to the exped path for a bit, just to visit systems that others may have flown past. Seems to have worked, will be able to tell when i give the data to the universal cartographers.
Not much happened along the way, though i do need a bit more practise with the surface probes. the smaller planets and moons are fine for me, but some of the bigger planets need at least 20 probes to scan. got to work on my efficiency.
Got to Cycladia, and do those rings move quickly. Had thought the ship would get knocked about a bit going through the ring (R'geli said I was being reckless), but I think we got caught in the gravity and made it through with incident.

Just need to prepare for the next leg. It crosses the void between two of the galactic arms, so its going to be a few longer jumps this time. Just need to keep an eye on fuel levels.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's log: 33050116A
Successfully traversed the void between galactic arms. Did have a few issues where jumps were aborted. R'geli is having a poke around the sub-systems for any issues. Stumbled across some crystalline growth out in space in one of the systems, super cool, if not a tad eiry.
Arrived at Labirinto and boy is that moon scarred. It has some very deep canyons, beginning to wish i had some fighters onboard to fly around them. Whilst trying to explore them in Athena, may have hit the sides a bit too hard on approach and took a bit of damage. Also, while checking out some geological features, may have gotten a SRV stuck in a crater and had to abandon it. Was able to check out some water fumaroles at another location, that's a first for me.
Fortunately for today's mishaps it appears all can be fixed at the Omega outpost at the next waypoint. Currently about 2/3 of the way there so should be able to knock out the remaining checkpoints quickly.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's log: 33050117A
Thor's eye looks great. Being closer to the core means more stuff in the sky. Which means more stuff to distort by the black hole, got a few nice snaps. R'geli stayed down in engineering whilst we were there, guessing she hasn't gotten over the queasiness of last time. Annoyingly forgot to turn on the logger for this leg, so it looks like I made a massive jump for this part. Also checking my records, turns out I forgot to turn on the logger before leaving the start so no complete journey :'(.

33050117B
The Lagoon Nebula is pretty cool, quite a bright star in the centre of it. Now I will admit that looks a bit more like an eye than the last checkpoint, but let’s just fly with it. Did have a couple of issues with the frame shift drive again.

33050117C
While it doesn’t look much from the inside, the Cinnabar Moth Nebula looked amazing as I jumped towards it. A very vibrant red, definitely stood out from the background.
Right just a long leg to the supercluster and then a short hop to Omega station. They might be needing to rename that soon if it’s no longer going to be the last station you come across. Just need to be wary of other CMDRs, seems there may be a few wolves in sheep’s clothing hanging around.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050118A
Made it to Omega mining station. There are so many stars around with the supercluster nearby, it was great watching them, and the Omega nebula, approach as I jumped onwards.
Got a significant pay-out for the exploration data I handed in, including several first finds and mapped bonuses. Guess going off the beaten track helped with that. 11M Cr is nothing to sniff at, I wonder how much I’ll get at the journeys end.
Refitted my ship for mining and headed out into the belt. Unfortunately forgot to pick up limpets before I left (R'geli is currently tutting at me, I might have been a tad hasty to depart considering the resource call for the new station was getting filled fast), so I had to make some limpets, though only had enough materials for 4. So a quick mining session with those, popped back to get my SRVs, and now heading off to a planet to get some iron and nickel.
Supplement: Ok R'geli is currently not talking to me. last thing she said was something in her own language that ive come to translate as something along the lines of "idiot" though have a feeling its worse than that. So I made a few mistakes. 1. hadn't twigged that you get limpets for the maintenance depot on the station, not the marketplace where I was looking. 2. launched my newly replaced SRV off a cliff, it didn't end well. 3. may have come in a bit hard during the landing for the second one and lost about 50% hull health. At least the shields took the brunt of it (though I would have only gone back to omega had things gone sideways), but I didnt take that much damage at The View. Going to need to make it up to R'geli somehow, guess I’m doing the next (or 5) EVAs to clean the engine intakes.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050120A
Urghh, nebula dust really goes like to gunk up the engine manifolds, it’s an absolute pain to clear out. Suppose that’s what I get for clanging the ship recently. Had to stay in the decon suite for 3 hours (rather than the needed 15 mins) as R'geli couldn’t get the door open, though I suspect this was a small additional part of payback on her part. (really can’t blame her)
Past few days have been much the same, popping out into the asteroid belt to get supplies for the new station, popping back to drop them off and restock on limpets, and then back out again. Currently sitting within the top 25% of contributors for the resource call, which I’m quite happy with. Tried out the newly developed mining tools, they definitely need a bit of time to get used to and not overly sure how much better they are than strip mining the surface as before. Haven’t blown an asteroid up yet, might do that at least once before continuing the journey.
R'geli has been off the ship for most of these trips, gathering up some more supplies, seems we are going through them a tad faster they we expected. Normally wouldn’t be an issue but as it will be a few months before resupply, we really don’t want to get caught short.
Currently considering changing my setup a bit, considering how clumsy I’ve been recently, some repair limpets will go a long way, but not sure what to drop to slot the controller in.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050124A
Mining done. I was able to deliver over a kiloton of resources for the material call. Ended up in the top 25% and got 35M Cr for my time as well. Pretty sweet. Didn't blow up an asteroid in the end, none had the materials I was looking for. That being said, the other new advanced tools definitely made it easier to get what I wanted, pretty sure I saw a fragment from a sub-surface vein give 90% of a tonne of resources.

tried a bit of combat. got the canopy blown out twice, but never lost the ship. Quite happy R'geli wasn’t onboard and was able to patch up the holes before she came back with the supplies, really don’t want to be cleaning the manifold any time soon. Got a nice little bonus with the combat, top 75%, which for an exploration ship not exactly optimised for combat is pretty good.

We have now headed off to the basecamp on planet 7B. Parked a little way away and drove to the geo-feature that was the marker. Aside from initially going down the wrong canyon, it was a nice drive and got another entry for my codex. Also helped that R'geli was able to land the ship quite close when I recalled it to pick me up (had thought it wouldn’t be able to enter the canyon, started getting flashbacks of Labirinto).

Should be good to go on the next leg in a few days’ time, though R'geli was saying that the engines weren't getting all the power assigned to them. Still we have a bit of time to give the whole system a once over. Probably just a dodgy connection after the repairs, but not going to tell her that, I know she disapproves of combat.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050129A
I'm in the dog house again. So, the repairoids at the station appear to not the difference between a gravimetric inductor plate and a fusion energy acceptor. So, we blew a few fuses when we tried to take off, and upon inspection, discovered the half-baked attempted repairs on some of the internal combat damage. Long story short, I’m back in an EVA suit cleaning out the engine manifolds again, whilst R'geli fixes up the ship. All the while muttering things like removing the targeting chips from the weapons. Strangely, I’m sure I saw some of the wiring had been chewed through rather than blasted.
So, lesson to any Commanders out there: don't hide anything from a woman, regardless of species, they will find out in the end.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050130A
And we're off. Last little bit of soldering and we were able to take off.
Due to leaving a few days late, will be taking a fairly direct route between the checkpoints, and won’t be stopping for too long in any one system (unless it is a checkpoint).

33050130B
Well that plan went to pot a bit. second or third system in, find a nice system with 9 ringed planets and one un-ringed moon. Spent a while getting some nice shots on the closest planet. Being able to zoom when scanning the system helps finding good looking spots.

33050130C
Made it to NGC 6565. Some really funky colours out here. got a green background, some purple planets and a very bright star. Got some snaps and now heading off.


33050130D
Arrived at the Arkgamanon Mountain Range. These mountains are quite impressive, no foothills mean they tower up from nothing. Took a trip out in the scarab from the top of one of the peaks to the bottom, may have gone off the wrong side and almost got stuck in a canyon. oops. Fortunately, R'geli is a fab pilot and was able to fish me out without having to land the ship. Next stop NGC 6629.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050131A
We had a good trip today, was able to power through a lot of systems to get to Eudaemon Anchorage. Thought I would list some of the highlights as I forgot to make regular logs along the way, oops.
NGC 6629: those mineral spheres are weird, even R'geli said she hadn’t seen anything like that in all her years of travel.
Eagle's Landing: nice for a quick fix up and replenish of stuff (may have cooked us a couple of times on that leg). Nice view of the sky, very atmospheric.
Eudaemon Anchorage: Again, nice safe breather of a rest stop, was able to finish off the repairs from the combat last week (it’s a tad hard replacing the canopy seals when in the middle of space). Got a nice shot of the sun popping round the planet as I approached the station.

Next stop the Quantum World. Had thought about driving from pole to pole, but that would take about two weeks not stop driving, don’t think that the expedition will wait for me for that long. Maybe another time. Will see if I can map the surface with a single probe.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050203A
Arrived at the Quantum World. Really didn’t think it would be that small, I was really surprised to be able to scan it with a single probe.
Had a bit of a fly around close to the surface, but as we were running late couldn’t do a full circumnavigation.
Made it to the Conflux settlement with just enough time to hear the route for the next leg. Looks to be an interesting one. The settlement itself is quite eerie, as well as the logs being rather sad. A quick visit to some geysers and we're ready to head off. Going to cross into a new region of space.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050213A
Urghhhh. Two people with space flu in a confined space = not fun.
The leg started off all right and managed to make it most of the way to the Rusty Net Nebula before piloting began to feel like a drag. Was able to pitch up in the Nebula, and both of us have been bunk-ridden for about a week.
Hopefully we've gotten over the worst of it, but it does seem like we are going to need to do some major flight sessions to catch up with the rest of the fleet. Annoyingly the current waypoint is the closest to Colonia as the trip will go, but that’s still a leg's length out and back again, so I don’t think I’ll be visiting Colonia this time around.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050217A
Finally back under way properly. Still a bit snuffly following the space flu, but at least I can now focus on flying rather than needing a nap at every system.
Had a few issues coming into the collection of wonders system, got a tad stuck coming out of supercruise... right next to a black hole. Started taking heat levels in excess of 200% capacity. Finally controls started to respond and was able to fire off a heatsink to combat the temperature. System was really cool and funky, don't think I’ve ever seen a star with a ring system before (asteroid belts don’t count).
Was nice to visit some guardian ruins again, shame they were all on the dark side of the planet at the time. Did see some crystal stellar phenomena out there, those still look a bit spooky to me.
Quick trip to Sacaqewea space port allowed a quick repair and restock to the system, as well as picking up some extra supplies. Will admit, I did not think that a box of tissues and a punnet of oranges would be so expensive, but I guess that’s what happens when you are this far from the bubble.
Made some good progress, hopefully should be able to catch up soon.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050218A
Continued on from Sacaqewea space port. Had a quick stop along way at the octopus and spear thistle nebulae. Beginning to see a lot of stars in the sky, I wonder what it would look like when we get to Sag A.
Made it to Llyn Tegid Nebula and the base camp without any major issues. Llyn Tegid is a very lovely place back on Earth and that carries over into the nebula. The geysers looking particularly nice against the blue sky.
After that, a nice and simple (and a tad long) journey to Gagarin space port. Quick repairs (got caught in a few gravity wells of stars) and should be off soon. Did see that one pilot had landed their Beluga in a peculiar way, looks like they were trying to imitate the space shuttles of old.
Now only one leg behind the others, hoping to reach Polo Harbour by Thursday.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050219A
Set off from Gagarin space port without issue. Looks like the Space Shuttle Beluga has either left or landed properly.
Bit of a trek to the Death Spiral, but it was worth it. Really was something to see the planet pass through the ejection cone, looked like it was being cut in half. But it was over so quickly, only just having enough time to get R'geli from her bunk and to grab my camera before the planet had passed through. Tried to get a scan of the planet, but the auto-drop safety features on the ship kept kicking in before I was able to get close enough. Suppose that will be a challenge for another day.
Another trek up to the Amaethon Nebula. Looked nice on approach, but somewhat disappeared when we entered it. Landed on planet 4E and was able to get a good supply of polonium. Should be able to make a few full boosted jumps if I find myself in a bit of a pickle.
Next stop Michell's Legacy.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050224A
Really need to focus on catching up. Got distracted by other things and so still two legs behind the others. We have met a couple of other commanders out here, also trying to catch up. It's nice to know we're not alone.
Michell's Legacy was good, so many black holes, but couldn’t really see anything as we kept dropping out before the lensing effect happened.
Arrived at Polo Harbour without any issue, but WP7 has been announced, so as I said still two legs slow. Annoyingly this new one finishes in Sag A*, with the new station being constructed over the next week or so and CGs. Really got to turn up the engines. Next stretch is 61 jumps, so thought best to rest up and tackle it in another time, as it was getting late.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050225A
So much for knuckling down and catching up.
15 jumps into the epic 61 jump leg, and I get distracted by other things.
Maybe tomorrow will be able to get the leg done.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050226A
After another hour and a half of flying (that was quite a leg), arrived at Phiaanor. Quite a nice system, lots of blue hues. Didn't burn up in the neutron star so that was a nice bonus.
Plotted route to the Ocularis Coelum, should take another hour to get there. Quite fancy seeing another ringed star, they seem rather odd but cool.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050227A
So, we put our foot down and made it to Ocularis Coelum. I think ringed stars are probably becoming one of my favourite stellar phenomena.
We were able to make it to Fosforon before calling it a night. R'geli commented that from our particular angle outside the nebula, it looked a bit like a Terran jellyfish. We did pop inside to have a look. Some nice shades but a slight miscalculation put us a tad too close to the black hole and were forced to making an emergency drop. Really hoping to get to the new station soon. Want to do some overhauling before we leave the last station for a while behind.
Hoping to make a good push tomorrow and get to Dryau Awesomes, so that we are only the current leg behind.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050228A
Wow what a night. So long story short, started flying from Ocularis Coelum at about 19.30 and arrived at Dryau Awesomes around 23.10. Bit of exploring later, was time to call it a night.
So the first stop was Fosforon. Very blue nebula, very nice. Slowly becoming less of a fan of black holes, they always seem to mess up the system entry and drop us out.
Next stop was the Pink Flame Nebula. Kept calling it the Pink Flamingo Nebula for quite a while, R'geli found it very amusing. Got some nice pics and carried on.
On to the Cloverfield Planetary Nebula. Another colourful nebula with another black hole, but this time was able to dive underneath it as we exited witchspace. R'geli is grumbling about stressing the gravi-plates or something too much.
And then it was The Dryau Awesomes. Very peculiar collection of stellar bodies. Saw a planet getting baked by the neutron star, another about to get eaten by a gas giant (though didn’t see the rings for that one ) Arrived at the basecamp without issue and got a nice picture of the parent moon coming over the top of the ridge.
We'll stick here for about a day to figure out what route we are going to take, but a quick calculation of a direct route to Sag A* will take 99 jumps, so looking at no less than another 5 hours of flying before we catch up.... but we are soooo close now.