You can register up to 6 ships per commander. The vast majority of players are only bringing 1, but we've given you the opportunity to officially register up to 6. With the 4 official fleet carriers, there's nothing stopping you from bringing more than 6, however anything above the 6 will not be considered an officially registered ship.
[DW3] Distant Worlds 3 Website & Roster Signups
- Thread starter Qohen Leth
- Start date
I suspect that many players are only registering one ship at the moment because they are waiting for details on the other events/route in order to evaluate their needs.
Is there an option to de-register a ship in one of the other five slots if you change your mind or is that problematic?
Is there an option to de-register a ship in one of the other five slots if you change your mind or is that problematic?
Looks like you can just edit the slot if you change your mind.
You can delete any ship, except for the one you have flagged as your primary. You can edit any ship, including changing your primary ship.
It's multicrew but instead of teleprecense you actually board their ship, meaning when you disembark you are physically at that location, wherever that may be. Not seeing any cabins from the inside I'm afraid.Oh ok.I didn't know players could hitch rides on passenger ships.
Just curious how does that work? Do you get transported to a cabin?
Or is it like the shuttles where you sit in the co pilot seat?
That's a great question. MetaElite is designed to enhance the DW3 experience but it's not essential in experiencing everything the expedition has to offer. We did anticipate that some Commanders would not be able or even want to use MetaElite and that's ok.
There will be so much more to experience, information regarding the expedition will always be posted via the website. Discord will always be full of Commanders to chat with, base camp fun and games to participate in, Science missions and comunity challenges. Everything that the likes of DW2 had to offer.
Alioth, 3311 AD (Who is paying?)
He knew his way around. This was home turf. When they said ‘flight deck four’ he knew it was the deck for the carrier’s escort ships. These decks were modular and not so very different from those used for fighter launches on the CQC mobile bases. Only bigger. It was the modular design that was interesting. Exchangeable bulkheads and structural integrity compartments that could be swapped for more storage when necessary. Federation ingenuity that the Alliance had “adapted” all too eagerly.
When he saw the yellow and black Alliance Chieftain with the Kiss ‘n Gun decal he smiled. The fabled Whisky Wasp. And her pilot used to be Alliance Elite.
He approached the ship. The Chieftain was the giant among a number of Vipers and Eagles. Sure, there was a Vulture and a battered Asp Scout, too. But the Chieftain was the king in the ring here.
Just now circling around the aft port wing he saw her below the bow. No way! She was hanging from the barrel of a multi-cannon. A Cerberus Amalgamated RM-75. There were rumors Cerberus was a front for Achilles’ delvings into weapons tech. If so, the ‘75 was a brilliant showrunner.
And she was doing pull-ups on that ‘75. The Chieftain had a large landing gear so there was ample space for her workout. She did the pull-ups slowly and with eyes closed, almost in a meditative rhythm. And she had quite an audience, maybe because of her tank top. Every rookie and Ensign on deck four had put their work aside and were silently watching the show.
He took a few more steps towards the ship (and her), looked around once more and finally addressed her: “Miss Howard? Of the Whisky Wasp, Alliance SEW?”
No reaction.
“Ma’am? I came a long way to find you.” He took another step. “Someone in the Alliance Affiliation Partnership referred me to you. Gave me a nudge so to say, where I may find you.”
She stopped in the middle of a pull-up, breathed out slowly, blew a strain of her red hair out of her face and opened her eyes.
“And you are?”
“Brodey, Miss Howard. My name is Alistair Brodey. I work for Transorbital Dynamics.”
“And?” Still hanging from that cannon.
“Like I said, someone in the AAP mentioned your name. And here I am, asking kindly for an audience with the Whiskey Wasp.” He tried to smile.
She finally pulled up, rolled forward and with a salto landed firmly on the flight deck. There was quite a murmur on the deck after that stunt. But if his last words had made an impression on her, she ignored it.
“Very well, Alistair Brodey.” She rubbed her hands on her trousers. “Hand me my jacket, will you?”
He looked around and saw the jacket lying neatly folded on a nearby 120 mm ammo crate. A warning sign labelled them as corrosive shells. She was a pro, there was no doubt about that. Just who and what they needed.
He picked up the jacket. Dark Alliance blue and green, and it still had a bazillion emblems: Campaign badges, combat ribbons, an Inara Hunter medal and a lot more. Quite a few of them even had the unusual floral shapes that said ‘she killed Thargoids’.
When he handed her the jacket he realised how secretly muscular she was. She wasn’t exactly big but she was trained through and through. Despite her leaving active service years ago she clearly kept herself in shape. Sweat ran down her arms.
Putting the jacket on with her first hint of a smile she asked: “So Brodey, who is it? Who gave you my name?”
He cleared his throat: “Peter Jennings.”
“Admiral Jennings?”
“Yes, Ma’am. So a colleague from the Scouting and Explorations Wing.”
“Not a colleague. My superior.”
“Ah, yes. Sorry for that. You were one of six Flight Majors under his direct command until his promotion and transfer to the Exploration Academy. He said you were one of the first to field test the new civilian frameshift drives when they came out in ‘95.”
He held out his hand: “It’s an honour, Ma’am.”
She just nodded.
“Call me Elaine. No need for Ma’ams on a flight deck, citizen. And no, FSD was not civilian back then. The X-4A models were military grades but the SEW was issued a batch for testing, because we had long range ships. But it turned out range and force projection was redefined entirely by that wizardry. Still, everybody was happy the Stardreamer tech was history. You don’t go to sleep when flying towards an enemy.”
“You clearly are an expert. And lucky to be alive, I should add. Word is not all squads made it back home back then.”
She frowned. “So Jennings. He quit the Academy?”
It was apparent she didn’t want to go down that road. And for Brodey it was okay. Sort of…
“No,” Brodey said. “Not at all. He still has his classes but he has helped the AAP with a number of contacts and quite frankly favours for discharged officers who find it a bit difficult to let’s say use their talents in the civilian sector.”
She smiled and then looked up at her Chieftain. “Well, tell him I’m fine.”
He hesitated.
“What?”
“It’s… I want to offer you a job. An assignment I mean. I realise you have one here but please just hear me out. Jennings said I should persist, even if you just…”
“Just what?”
“Just frown or be gruff.”
“Did he now?”
“Yes. And I didn’t want to screw it up.”
“Have you ever flown out there in tight combat situations, Brodey?” She crossed her arms across the chest and started measuring him from toe to top. This was awkward; for both probably.
He cleared his throat again: “Well, no. Not really. I mean with telepresence technology a lot is possible.” An uncomfortable pause. “But no, not in actual combat.”
“Well, TP is different. You just jack out when you’re deep in hull. In space you have a broken canopy and from three to ten minutes to reach the nearest oxy vendor.”
He looked up. “Well, that’s it! That’s exactly it! I mean why Jennings said ‘ask Major Howard’. Because you have a class 8 cargohold full of experience.”
“Brodey,” she said. “What is this banter all about?”
“There’s going to be a big expedition into deep space. I mean, literally long range and with possibly hundreds of pilots. It’ll be well organised but…”
“This Distant thing? Civilians?” she interrupted.
“Um, yeah. Mostly I guess. But it’s not space tourism. There will be a tight schedule for a number of surveys, so that means missions, time tables, debriefings and a lot of ships coming from and going to uncharted parts of space.”
“I have seen these expeditions before,“ she said flatly. “They mostly fragment after the first few waypoints. But judging your enthusiasm I guess that’s where I would come in?”
“Excatly. As Flight Major you coordinated many deep space surveys and recon missions. Plus, you are drilled to act cool in emergencies. We would expect you to train others on occasion in all things that can go wrong in space.”
“That would take a hundred years, trust me. And still people never listen.”
He smiled. “Well, the basics and some refresher courses then. And maybe an anti-Diva training.”
She smiled, too. “Who is paying?”
“Transorbital Dynamics, another corp called Deep Space Surveys and a number of private and scientific sponsors have created a trust from which the expedition is funded. You would be well compensated.”
“Is the Alliance involved?”
“Yes. Although I cannot disclose any details at this time.”
She nodded. “Fine, I’ll think it over. You’ll have my answer in two days. You obviously know where to find me.” She smirked.
Back in his Eagle Brodey turned on the comms. He chose a secure channel.
“Think she’s going to join. Plays tough but may be worth it. Jennings was right.”
A female voice answered: “Good job, Corsen. If she does, give her access to the MetaLens firmware and let her fly some test missions. Then report back.”
See the full Story so far on the Distant Worlds 3 Homepage.
He knew his way around. This was home turf. When they said ‘flight deck four’ he knew it was the deck for the carrier’s escort ships. These decks were modular and not so very different from those used for fighter launches on the CQC mobile bases. Only bigger. It was the modular design that was interesting. Exchangeable bulkheads and structural integrity compartments that could be swapped for more storage when necessary. Federation ingenuity that the Alliance had “adapted” all too eagerly.
When he saw the yellow and black Alliance Chieftain with the Kiss ‘n Gun decal he smiled. The fabled Whisky Wasp. And her pilot used to be Alliance Elite.
He approached the ship. The Chieftain was the giant among a number of Vipers and Eagles. Sure, there was a Vulture and a battered Asp Scout, too. But the Chieftain was the king in the ring here.
Just now circling around the aft port wing he saw her below the bow. No way! She was hanging from the barrel of a multi-cannon. A Cerberus Amalgamated RM-75. There were rumors Cerberus was a front for Achilles’ delvings into weapons tech. If so, the ‘75 was a brilliant showrunner.
And she was doing pull-ups on that ‘75. The Chieftain had a large landing gear so there was ample space for her workout. She did the pull-ups slowly and with eyes closed, almost in a meditative rhythm. And she had quite an audience, maybe because of her tank top. Every rookie and Ensign on deck four had put their work aside and were silently watching the show.
He took a few more steps towards the ship (and her), looked around once more and finally addressed her: “Miss Howard? Of the Whisky Wasp, Alliance SEW?”
No reaction.
“Ma’am? I came a long way to find you.” He took another step. “Someone in the Alliance Affiliation Partnership referred me to you. Gave me a nudge so to say, where I may find you.”
She stopped in the middle of a pull-up, breathed out slowly, blew a strain of her red hair out of her face and opened her eyes.
“And you are?”
“Brodey, Miss Howard. My name is Alistair Brodey. I work for Transorbital Dynamics.”
“And?” Still hanging from that cannon.
“Like I said, someone in the AAP mentioned your name. And here I am, asking kindly for an audience with the Whiskey Wasp.” He tried to smile.
She finally pulled up, rolled forward and with a salto landed firmly on the flight deck. There was quite a murmur on the deck after that stunt. But if his last words had made an impression on her, she ignored it.
“Very well, Alistair Brodey.” She rubbed her hands on her trousers. “Hand me my jacket, will you?”
He looked around and saw the jacket lying neatly folded on a nearby 120 mm ammo crate. A warning sign labelled them as corrosive shells. She was a pro, there was no doubt about that. Just who and what they needed.
He picked up the jacket. Dark Alliance blue and green, and it still had a bazillion emblems: Campaign badges, combat ribbons, an Inara Hunter medal and a lot more. Quite a few of them even had the unusual floral shapes that said ‘she killed Thargoids’.
When he handed her the jacket he realised how secretly muscular she was. She wasn’t exactly big but she was trained through and through. Despite her leaving active service years ago she clearly kept herself in shape. Sweat ran down her arms.
Putting the jacket on with her first hint of a smile she asked: “So Brodey, who is it? Who gave you my name?”
He cleared his throat: “Peter Jennings.”
“Admiral Jennings?”
“Yes, Ma’am. So a colleague from the Scouting and Explorations Wing.”
“Not a colleague. My superior.”
“Ah, yes. Sorry for that. You were one of six Flight Majors under his direct command until his promotion and transfer to the Exploration Academy. He said you were one of the first to field test the new civilian frameshift drives when they came out in ‘95.”
He held out his hand: “It’s an honour, Ma’am.”
She just nodded.
“Call me Elaine. No need for Ma’ams on a flight deck, citizen. And no, FSD was not civilian back then. The X-4A models were military grades but the SEW was issued a batch for testing, because we had long range ships. But it turned out range and force projection was redefined entirely by that wizardry. Still, everybody was happy the Stardreamer tech was history. You don’t go to sleep when flying towards an enemy.”
“You clearly are an expert. And lucky to be alive, I should add. Word is not all squads made it back home back then.”
She frowned. “So Jennings. He quit the Academy?”
It was apparent she didn’t want to go down that road. And for Brodey it was okay. Sort of…
“No,” Brodey said. “Not at all. He still has his classes but he has helped the AAP with a number of contacts and quite frankly favours for discharged officers who find it a bit difficult to let’s say use their talents in the civilian sector.”
She smiled and then looked up at her Chieftain. “Well, tell him I’m fine.”
He hesitated.
“What?”
“It’s… I want to offer you a job. An assignment I mean. I realise you have one here but please just hear me out. Jennings said I should persist, even if you just…”
“Just what?”
“Just frown or be gruff.”
“Did he now?”
“Yes. And I didn’t want to screw it up.”
“Have you ever flown out there in tight combat situations, Brodey?” She crossed her arms across the chest and started measuring him from toe to top. This was awkward; for both probably.
He cleared his throat again: “Well, no. Not really. I mean with telepresence technology a lot is possible.” An uncomfortable pause. “But no, not in actual combat.”
“Well, TP is different. You just jack out when you’re deep in hull. In space you have a broken canopy and from three to ten minutes to reach the nearest oxy vendor.”
He looked up. “Well, that’s it! That’s exactly it! I mean why Jennings said ‘ask Major Howard’. Because you have a class 8 cargohold full of experience.”
“Brodey,” she said. “What is this banter all about?”
“There’s going to be a big expedition into deep space. I mean, literally long range and with possibly hundreds of pilots. It’ll be well organised but…”
“This Distant thing? Civilians?” she interrupted.
“Um, yeah. Mostly I guess. But it’s not space tourism. There will be a tight schedule for a number of surveys, so that means missions, time tables, debriefings and a lot of ships coming from and going to uncharted parts of space.”
“I have seen these expeditions before,“ she said flatly. “They mostly fragment after the first few waypoints. But judging your enthusiasm I guess that’s where I would come in?”
“Excatly. As Flight Major you coordinated many deep space surveys and recon missions. Plus, you are drilled to act cool in emergencies. We would expect you to train others on occasion in all things that can go wrong in space.”
“That would take a hundred years, trust me. And still people never listen.”
He smiled. “Well, the basics and some refresher courses then. And maybe an anti-Diva training.”
She smiled, too. “Who is paying?”
“Transorbital Dynamics, another corp called Deep Space Surveys and a number of private and scientific sponsors have created a trust from which the expedition is funded. You would be well compensated.”
“Is the Alliance involved?”
“Yes. Although I cannot disclose any details at this time.”
She nodded. “Fine, I’ll think it over. You’ll have my answer in two days. You obviously know where to find me.” She smirked.
Back in his Eagle Brodey turned on the comms. He chose a secure channel.
“Think she’s going to join. Plays tough but may be worth it. Jennings was right.”
A female voice answered: “Good job, Corsen. If she does, give her access to the MetaLens firmware and let her fly some test missions. Then report back.”
See the full Story so far on the Distant Worlds 3 Homepage.
I hope they add it soon, I really want to read them sequentially all together.
Might be Raan Corsen, from Elite: Premonition.
There is certainly plenty of conspiracy in the storyline, with Galcop sensor arrays built to detect Thargoids on the science carriers and one of the projects being to find a 'lost' DSSA carrier, so who knows who else might be involved.
I think/hope the idea is that, by our own actions using MetaElite, participants may be able to have some influence over how this story evolves, based purely on what I have read on the DW3 website.
We're still in the setup phase, with the cast being assembled, but it is a very ambitious story, so o7 to CMDR Andrew Gaspurr for the effort.
There is certainly plenty of conspiracy in the storyline, with Galcop sensor arrays built to detect Thargoids on the science carriers and one of the projects being to find a 'lost' DSSA carrier, so who knows who else might be involved.
I think/hope the idea is that, by our own actions using MetaElite, participants may be able to have some influence over how this story evolves, based purely on what I have read on the DW3 website.
We're still in the setup phase, with the cast being assembled, but it is a very ambitious story, so o7 to CMDR Andrew Gaspurr for the effort.
Am now signed up.
Heh, my roster number begins with Z1ZU. Am I now the Zidane of Elite Dangerous?
Heh, my roster number begins with Z1ZU. Am I now the Zidane of Elite Dangerous?
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Adenets, 3311 AD (SRV 101)
The Alliance system of Adenets was a bit of a conundrum. 5a was an Earth-like world that had been terraformed long ago but for some reason most of the system’s population had decided to live on other planets and moons and even on the numerous stations that orbited them. The main reason was that 5a, despite all terraforming, was more or less covered in eternal winter. The other reason was that it was a boring place. In fact, 5a was so boring it didn’t really have a proper name.
However, despite all bad and boring weather conditions, or in fact because of them, 5a regularly attracted some of the sector’s die-hard SRV racers. There were a few abandoned mining settlements near the equator and they had been “prepped” with all kinds of obstacles. Right now one of these settlements was the location of one of these heavily sponsored races. And sponsor money attracted the best of the best. Or so the Navy saying was. Something like that…
That was enough reason Elaine Howard wanted to pay the race a visit. It had only been a week after she had accepted some sponsor money herself that got her out of her system monitor assignment early. That and maybe some kind words from some Alliance higher up.
The racing parcours were more or less how she had imagined it: Derelict buildings in a tight array, muddy pools and ruined concrete roads. A few ad signs hung here and there, Lavian Brandy, SRV workshops and Saud-Kruger off-world trips to places that were less boring.
Her target stood on an elevated platform near one of the tight curves of the track. He held a magniscope and was apparently monitoring a tight cluster of six ground vehicles competing for the pole position. Just now one of them broke through the barricades in a tumble and was carried off by centrifugal forces obviously beyond the driver’s control.
At that moment the man lowered his magniscope. You could literally sense him sending curses and swearings to the cosmos.
“Sergeant Waterman S. Piers. As he lives and breathes and all in one piece.” She smiled her ‘I am the Whisky Wasp’ smile.
He must have been nearly a head taller than her and he clearly was one of the military types you’d expect from a holo movie or an army recruitment ad: Aged, muscular, unit insignia tattoos, camo pilot suit pants and neatly trimmed grey hair.
He looked at her for a second or two, then nodded. “Howard. How you been?”
She stood beside him. There was some ruckus at the barricades as the medical team tried to free the hapless driver from his vehicle.
“Not bad,” she said. “The Alliance kept me on a leash a while longer but now I run my own little navy thanks to my retirement pay.”
He nodded again. “Then you were dealt the better hand.”
He moved his left arm in a fake salute to the chest. Only then did she notice it was a prosthetic.
“I’m sorry Piers. What happened?”
“The frecking Stargoids happened. Been a rough ride.”
She considered that for a moment. “Ground evacs? Last I remember you still were with the Alioth Indep’s 33rd.”
“Yeah. When they started bio-nuking the cities along the Evermore Drift stuff got real. We ran perimeter defence for the civ evacs. That’s where they got me so when you’re saying ‘alive and all in one piece’ it’s not 100% accurate.”
“Sorry, Piers,” she repeated. “So what did happen out there?”
“I don’t wanna talk about it Howard. Just let it go.”
She sighed. “Fair enough. So after that you got out?”
“Yeah.”
“You got back to training scrubs how to drive?” She nodded towards the accident.
He abruptly turned to face her. “Look Elaine, that was all yesterday and our last stunt was even before that. What do you want? Smear the ground forces? A signed holofac from a Tharg survivor?”
“Easy Piers.” She held up both arms in defense. “I don’t wanna smear anybody, least not you. In fact, I need your experience for a thing that’s being cooked up.”
“For what?”
“You’re the go-to guy for EXE and EVA training. The 33rd never had a better instructor and don’t even dare to deny it.”
Now she was getting intense. “You drove a Scarab through a kitchen full of poison and acids during the Eleventh Hour Raid in Cormack Canyon.”
“Yeah but the Scarab was metal slop after that.”
“But you weren’t, Piers. You placed the marker for the air blast and got out alive.”
“Funny you remember it so fondly. A lot of people died that day.”
“And more would have without it. You say ‘funny’. It’s funny a drill instructor needs to be reminded of the consequences of service.”
Piers just waved it off, instead focusing again on the race. The last five SRV came into view again.
“Once more, let it go. I have my show here and my crew. I’m quite content training a bunch of system authority newbies how not to suck in an SRV.”
“See?”
He pointed towards the far left part of the track where one of the SRV just broke out of another tight curve, lifted off the ground - seemingly uncontrolled - and spun around a few times before slamming into one of the industrial pylons.
“Rookies. Now they’re having their Isaac Newton moment. This planet is below 0.5 g. Told them to brake at 12.5 by 9.85 and turn for another 35 degrees to counter centrifugal.”
He stared at the tumbling SRV for another few seconds. When the vehicle finally hit the ground he sighed and shook his head.
“Well, back to SRV 101 then. You do these kinds of stunts out in the Black, you’re a goner.”
He looked back at her. “You mentioned a ‘thing’ being cooked up?”
“Yeah. I’m looking for pros who will teach some scrubs to behave themselves in deep space.” Then with a look back at the accident she added: “And on the ground.”
He just nodded.
“It’s a big endeavor and although most participants will have some experience with surface vehicles you can be sure it’s mostly self-taught. Few exceptions, maybe, but, well, that’s the gist. We need an expert showing them the gravitational ropes, so to say.”
He just nodded - again.
“Speaking about cooked up: Pay is good, food is better. Never knew space bartenders were so creative prepping food.” She smiled. “You should try it, Piers.”
“Where did you say you were going?”
“Humanity’s back yard. Couple of thousands of light years and past the Core. Four Carriers, a Civilian flotilla, scientists and a bazillion of ing space cowboys who think they’re smarter than Kyle W. Brennan.”
“Who?”
“Ah, never mind. Just expect them all to be eager to learn the ropes from an ex-Colonial Marine and you get the picture.”
“Ask Alec.”
“Beg your pardon?”
“Ah, it’s become an idiom in SRV circles. Whenever an up and coming rookie driver thinks he just came up with an incredible all-new stunt he needs to scream across all GalNet: Ask Alec. Because Alec has already done it a thousand times before. So nothing to see here. Move on and learn how to break in a tight spot below 0.5 g.”
“I … understand. I think.”
“Trust me, you don’t.”
See the full Story so far on the Distant Worlds 3 Homepage.
The Alliance system of Adenets was a bit of a conundrum. 5a was an Earth-like world that had been terraformed long ago but for some reason most of the system’s population had decided to live on other planets and moons and even on the numerous stations that orbited them. The main reason was that 5a, despite all terraforming, was more or less covered in eternal winter. The other reason was that it was a boring place. In fact, 5a was so boring it didn’t really have a proper name.
However, despite all bad and boring weather conditions, or in fact because of them, 5a regularly attracted some of the sector’s die-hard SRV racers. There were a few abandoned mining settlements near the equator and they had been “prepped” with all kinds of obstacles. Right now one of these settlements was the location of one of these heavily sponsored races. And sponsor money attracted the best of the best. Or so the Navy saying was. Something like that…
That was enough reason Elaine Howard wanted to pay the race a visit. It had only been a week after she had accepted some sponsor money herself that got her out of her system monitor assignment early. That and maybe some kind words from some Alliance higher up.
The racing parcours were more or less how she had imagined it: Derelict buildings in a tight array, muddy pools and ruined concrete roads. A few ad signs hung here and there, Lavian Brandy, SRV workshops and Saud-Kruger off-world trips to places that were less boring.
Her target stood on an elevated platform near one of the tight curves of the track. He held a magniscope and was apparently monitoring a tight cluster of six ground vehicles competing for the pole position. Just now one of them broke through the barricades in a tumble and was carried off by centrifugal forces obviously beyond the driver’s control.
At that moment the man lowered his magniscope. You could literally sense him sending curses and swearings to the cosmos.
“Sergeant Waterman S. Piers. As he lives and breathes and all in one piece.” She smiled her ‘I am the Whisky Wasp’ smile.
He must have been nearly a head taller than her and he clearly was one of the military types you’d expect from a holo movie or an army recruitment ad: Aged, muscular, unit insignia tattoos, camo pilot suit pants and neatly trimmed grey hair.
He looked at her for a second or two, then nodded. “Howard. How you been?”
She stood beside him. There was some ruckus at the barricades as the medical team tried to free the hapless driver from his vehicle.
“Not bad,” she said. “The Alliance kept me on a leash a while longer but now I run my own little navy thanks to my retirement pay.”
He nodded again. “Then you were dealt the better hand.”
He moved his left arm in a fake salute to the chest. Only then did she notice it was a prosthetic.
“I’m sorry Piers. What happened?”
“The frecking Stargoids happened. Been a rough ride.”
She considered that for a moment. “Ground evacs? Last I remember you still were with the Alioth Indep’s 33rd.”
“Yeah. When they started bio-nuking the cities along the Evermore Drift stuff got real. We ran perimeter defence for the civ evacs. That’s where they got me so when you’re saying ‘alive and all in one piece’ it’s not 100% accurate.”
“Sorry, Piers,” she repeated. “So what did happen out there?”
“I don’t wanna talk about it Howard. Just let it go.”
She sighed. “Fair enough. So after that you got out?”
“Yeah.”
“You got back to training scrubs how to drive?” She nodded towards the accident.
He abruptly turned to face her. “Look Elaine, that was all yesterday and our last stunt was even before that. What do you want? Smear the ground forces? A signed holofac from a Tharg survivor?”
“Easy Piers.” She held up both arms in defense. “I don’t wanna smear anybody, least not you. In fact, I need your experience for a thing that’s being cooked up.”
“For what?”
“You’re the go-to guy for EXE and EVA training. The 33rd never had a better instructor and don’t even dare to deny it.”
Now she was getting intense. “You drove a Scarab through a kitchen full of poison and acids during the Eleventh Hour Raid in Cormack Canyon.”
“Yeah but the Scarab was metal slop after that.”
“But you weren’t, Piers. You placed the marker for the air blast and got out alive.”
“Funny you remember it so fondly. A lot of people died that day.”
“And more would have without it. You say ‘funny’. It’s funny a drill instructor needs to be reminded of the consequences of service.”
Piers just waved it off, instead focusing again on the race. The last five SRV came into view again.
“Once more, let it go. I have my show here and my crew. I’m quite content training a bunch of system authority newbies how not to suck in an SRV.”
“See?”
He pointed towards the far left part of the track where one of the SRV just broke out of another tight curve, lifted off the ground - seemingly uncontrolled - and spun around a few times before slamming into one of the industrial pylons.
“Rookies. Now they’re having their Isaac Newton moment. This planet is below 0.5 g. Told them to brake at 12.5 by 9.85 and turn for another 35 degrees to counter centrifugal.”
He stared at the tumbling SRV for another few seconds. When the vehicle finally hit the ground he sighed and shook his head.
“Well, back to SRV 101 then. You do these kinds of stunts out in the Black, you’re a goner.”
He looked back at her. “You mentioned a ‘thing’ being cooked up?”
“Yeah. I’m looking for pros who will teach some scrubs to behave themselves in deep space.” Then with a look back at the accident she added: “And on the ground.”
He just nodded.
“It’s a big endeavor and although most participants will have some experience with surface vehicles you can be sure it’s mostly self-taught. Few exceptions, maybe, but, well, that’s the gist. We need an expert showing them the gravitational ropes, so to say.”
He just nodded - again.
“Speaking about cooked up: Pay is good, food is better. Never knew space bartenders were so creative prepping food.” She smiled. “You should try it, Piers.”
“Where did you say you were going?”
“Humanity’s back yard. Couple of thousands of light years and past the Core. Four Carriers, a Civilian flotilla, scientists and a bazillion of ing space cowboys who think they’re smarter than Kyle W. Brennan.”
“Who?”
“Ah, never mind. Just expect them all to be eager to learn the ropes from an ex-Colonial Marine and you get the picture.”
“Ask Alec.”
“Beg your pardon?”
“Ah, it’s become an idiom in SRV circles. Whenever an up and coming rookie driver thinks he just came up with an incredible all-new stunt he needs to scream across all GalNet: Ask Alec. Because Alec has already done it a thousand times before. So nothing to see here. Move on and learn how to break in a tight spot below 0.5 g.”
“I … understand. I think.”
“Trust me, you don’t.”
See the full Story so far on the Distant Worlds 3 Homepage.
Before I ask anything, my apologies if what I ask or the way I ask angers anyone. I'm a bit ND and don't process ambiguity well. I already got chased out of one of the discord servers for asking what I am about to.
I don't fully understand what the event is. I can see that there will be a big expedition and some events along the way, but I'm not very sure about what it means. I have seen a beautiful YouTube video with a lovely song showing ships flying in close formation and making patterns - I doubt I could do that.
How does the mutple commanders ad multiple ships thing work? I can see there has been some discussion of that here a couple of pages back but I still don't quite get it. Is it the case that mutiple ships for the same commander get carried on one of the carriers, so you need to fly all of the ships you want to bring (except your primary ship of course) to that carrier, and then when you want to swap ships you have t fly to that carrier to swap? Or are the ships and carriers always in pretty much the same systems?
And how does it work for multiple commanders? If you have three accounts and participate with all of them, does that just mean three times as long making all th jumps to get where we are going?
Or have I got it all wrong and most of the jumping is done on the carriers to get to the expedition area and we just play around when we get there?
I don't fully understand what the event is. I can see that there will be a big expedition and some events along the way, but I'm not very sure about what it means. I have seen a beautiful YouTube video with a lovely song showing ships flying in close formation and making patterns - I doubt I could do that.
How does the mutple commanders ad multiple ships thing work? I can see there has been some discussion of that here a couple of pages back but I still don't quite get it. Is it the case that mutiple ships for the same commander get carried on one of the carriers, so you need to fly all of the ships you want to bring (except your primary ship of course) to that carrier, and then when you want to swap ships you have t fly to that carrier to swap? Or are the ships and carriers always in pretty much the same systems?
And how does it work for multiple commanders? If you have three accounts and participate with all of them, does that just mean three times as long making all th jumps to get where we are going?
Or have I got it all wrong and most of the jumping is done on the carriers to get to the expedition area and we just play around when we get there?
The carriers will carry any ships you have parked in them. The carriers will also carry any alternate commanders you might have, if that commander is docked in the carrier.
If all of your commanders are docked with the carrier, they will be transported with the carrier to the next waypoint. At each stop you can leave the carrier in any ship you want and explore the area, then dock again with the carrier before it jumps to the next waypoint. You won't need to fly the distance manually if you don't want to.
Personally, I will be flying the distance myself so I can explore along the way. During the first two Distant Worlds expeditions, we didn't have fleet carriers and players had to manually fly more than a thousand jumps to reach Beagle Point with weekly meetups at different places along the way.
Shortly before the expedition starts in ~3 months, players will need to dock at one of the carriers and also transfer any other ships to it they want to bring.
As you might have gathered, there have been two previous Distant Worlds expeditions and countless other player expeditions to other far away parts of the galaxy.
A player expedition like this is just organized cooperative gameplay. It's a long way to fly and doing it alone can be boring and lonely.
Exploring deep space with other players make it more fun, but either way, it's exploration. You will be far away from the core star systems and unable to participate in community goals, missions or combat game play. So if you don't enjoy exploration, or prefer other aspects of the game, then you may not want to participate.
I have two accounts and one will participate in the expedition while the other stays in the bubble so I can still do other things when I'm not in the mood for exploration.
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Thank you very much for this kind and patient explanation. Very much appreciated.
I hope we could clear up at least some of your questions this evening. I realize over the years there have been tons of information and cross references and it may be difficult without specific examples to grasp what this is all about.
If you have any questions about the even, which will take place in January 2026, please ask.