My journey to Colonia and back is now complete. You can read the journal entries from each of the 46 days I spent on this incredible voyage of discovery by following the links below. If you scroll down past these links you'll find the original forum post where I gathered information about the places I wanted to visit along the way and the things I wanted to try and do. Thanks to those of you who contributed and/or followed my adventures in this thread, and to those who are reading this afresh and perhaps considering trying some of these things for yourselves, I hope you have as much fun as I did and please feel free to contribute accounts of your own adventures at the end of this thread.
o7 commanders!
JOURNAL INDEX
Day 1 (18.12.3306) - UNTITLED
(Setting off, Hilary Depot base jump)
Day 2 (19.12.3306) - UNTITLED
(Hilary Depot parkour)
Day 3 (20.12.3306) - UNTITLED
(crystalline structures, mineral spheres, Attenborough's Watch asteroid base)
Day 4 (21.12.3306) - MOUNTAIN CLIMB AND MATING EXPERIMENTS
(mountain climb and descent, Triffid sector, collared pods)
Day 5 (22.12.3306) - UNWELCOME TRUTHS AND B CLASS STARS
(rearranging bobble heads at fleet carrier, 2MASS cluster of 'B' class stars)
Day 6 (23.12.3306) - ROHINI
(Rohini, Orange Vista installation)
Day 7 (24.12.2020) - CONFLUX ALPHA BETA
(racing SLF around Alpha and Beta Conflux sites, SRV crater run)
Day 8 (25.12.3306) - DRUNKEN P-TYPE ANOMALY SCIENCE
(xmas day, Conflux Delta, P01-type anomaly)
Day 9 (26.12.3306) - THE LAST OF THE CONFLUX
(Delta and Gamma Conflux sites, mountain climb and descent)
Day 10 (27.12.3306) - CROCEUM LAGRANGE WONDERS
(solar flares, Lagrange clouds, molluscs, lattice spheres)
Day 11 (28.12.3306) - NEBULA AND I SPY CODEX
(bark mounds, lagrange clouds, molluscs)
Day 11 (continued) - FIELDS OF ELYSIUM ("PHOTOGRAPHING A STUNNING PAIR")
(binary ringed earthlikes)
Day 12 (29.12.3306) - SINUOUS TUBERS EN ROUTE TO GANDHARVI
(sinuous tubers, Gandharvi)
Day 12 (continued) - BLUE BINARY FABRICATION
(exploring installation in the SLF)
Day 13 (30.12.3306) - ONWARDS TO POLO HARBOUR
(hunting for NSPs in a nebula, Polo Harbour wall climb)
Day 14 (31.12.3306) - GREEN GIANTS AND LIGHTNING STORMS
(Odin's Hold, glowing green giant, storm clouds, K 12-type anomaly)
Day 14 (continued) - STORM CHASER
(chasing the anomaly, more storms and an earthlike)
Day 14 (continued) - FINDING A BLACK HOLE
(new years eve, photographing a black hole)
Day 15 (01.01.3307) - NEW YEAR'S DAY
(3307 in tyre tracks, heading for Colonia)
Day 16 (02.01.3307) - VAPING
(back into Inner Scutum Centaurus Arm, volcanic surface features)
Day 17 (03.01.3307) - COLONIA
(arriving in Colonia, umbrella molluscs)
Day 18 (04.01.3307) - FRESH MEAT FOR ETIENNE'S SAUSAGE FACTORY
(getting occupied escape pods for Etienne Dorn)
Day 19 (05.01.3307) - DORN AND DOVE DONE AND DUSTED
(greeting Marzoom, scanner engineering, Dove Enigma, Colonia Hub mountain climb)
Day 20 (06.01.3307) - PROGENITORS R US
(mountain descent, buying a Type 7, Progenitor Cells for Petra, umbrella molluscs, racing O2 countdown)
Day 20 (continued) - PLAYING THE ONE ARMED BUCKYBANDIT
(photographing holo-ads at Jaques Cafe)
Day 21 (07.01.3307) - TRIBUTES AND FINES
(umbrella molluscs, fined for fireworks at Grak's memorial, Kremmen's Respite, first look at the Bone Yard)
Day 22 (08.01.3307) - BONEYARD BOOGALOO
(scaling the Boneyard skyscraper, Boneyard mountain climb and peak-to-peak challenge)
Day 23 (09.01.3307) - WORLD OF DEATH (part 1)
(landing on the World Of Death)
Day 23 (continued) - WORLD OF DEATH (part 2)
(Neutron rise on the World Of Death)
Day 24 (10.01.3307) - FROM DEATH TO PESTILENCE
(leaving World Of Death, meeting RatKatcher and Biff Stryker, FC ride to Dryooe Flyou GD-Y C28-57)
Day 25 (13.01.3307) - BUCKYBALL PREPARATIONS
(scouting the Colonia Trophy Dash waypoints, more umbrella molluscs)
Day 26 (14.01.3307) - BUCKYBALL RACING AND AN UNEXPECTED INVITATION
(first attempt at the Colonia Trophy Dash, Mel Brandon engineer invitation contract)
Day 27 (15.01.3307) - BUCKYBALLING BRANDON'S BOUNTIES
(another Colonia Trophy Dash attempt, bounty hunting for Mel Brandon)
Day 28 (16.01.3307) - MINING FOR MARSHA
(more Colonia Trophy Dash attempts, mining for Marsha Hicks)
Day 28 (continued) - BUCKYBALL UPDATE
(5th place on the Colonia Trophy Dash)
Day 29 (17.01.3307) - TOO FAST TOO OBSCURED
(failed attempts at the Colonia Trophy Dash)
Day 30 (19.01.3307) - REPUTATION TARNISHED
(fighting a Goliath at Hyford's Cache)
Day 31 (20.01.3307) - REPUTATION RESTORED
(defeating Goliath, visiting Kinesi wreckage, clearing bounty, tracking down Insulating Membrane for Jaques)
Day 32 (21.01.3307) - COLONIA POINT
(3,000ly below the galactic plane)
Day 33 (22.01.3307) - MALFUNCTION!
(2,500ly below the galactic plane with a malfunctioning FSD and no AFMU)
Day 33 (continued) - EXPERIMENTAL HABITATS
(repaired, experimental habitats 001-003, peduncle pod ballet)
Day 34 (23.01.3307) - THE GIFT SHOP
(experimental habitat 004, Becket class science vessel, stuffing pods into the megaship's engines, souvenirs)
Day 35 (24.01.3307) - THE KRAKEN 100
(test driving the ridge to Kraken's Retreat)
Day 36 (26.01.3307) - THE KRAKEN 100 (continued)
(more test driving of the Kraken 100 ridge)
Day 37 (27.01.3307) - THE GHOST OF KRAKEN RIDGE
(driving the Kraken 100 with Ian Doncaster and Crank Larson)
Day 38 (28.01.3307) - DEATH, GLORY AND BEER
(finally a decent Kraken 100 run, scaling Stoertebeker Dock skyscraper in Likedeeler's Helgoland)
Day 39 (29.01.3307) - SURLY BUYS A SINGLE MALT
(tackling the "Surly Buys A Round" SRV race at Surly's Rest in Rodentia)
Day 40 (30.01.3307) - SURLY BUYS ALL THE DRINKS!
(variations on "Surly Buys A Round" including racing backwards)
Day 41 (31.01.3307) - MINING BOOM AT FOSTER TERMINAL
(Twilight Mountains in the dark, blowing up an asteroid next to Foster Terminal in Coeus)
Day 42 (01.02.3307) - RIDGE RUNNING
(time in Colonia coming to an end, driving along awesome ridge on Eol Prou RN-I C10-203 1 A)
Day 43 (02.02.3307) - GOODBYES ARE NEVER EASY
(leaving Colonia, fireworks and poetry at Evelyn's Light)
Day 43 (continued) - THE NEUTRON HIGHWAY
(racing back to the bubble for a Buckyball race, Clockwork nebula, Kashyapa and its ringed earthlike)
Day 44 (03.02.3307) - ANCIENT RUINS
(exploring the Skaudai Guardian ruins in the dark, plasma blue Lagrange cloud)
Day 45 (04.02.3307) - AN ACTUAL DISCOVERY
(Neutron highway video, first discovery of a system with a waterworld plus two NSPs)
Day 46 (05.02.3307) - SMOKE ME A KIPPER!
(Musica Universalis gas giant system, asteroids and fireworks video, final jumps, back in the bubble)
EPILOGUE
(graphs and statistics)
Going to
Spent my days with a woman unkind
Smoked my stuff and drank all my wine
Made up my mind to make a new start
Going To California Colonia with an aching in my heart
Someone told me there's a girl out there
With love in her eyes and flowers in her hair
(Led Zeppelin - 1971)
I've been putting it off for a long time but I'm stating my intention to finally take a proper trip out to Colonia (just as soon as Speedbowl IV is over). I want to do it properly tho, not rush it (which is why I deliberately avoided taking part in Exigeous' Colonia Speedrun earlier in the year) - but try to make a proper journey out of it.
For that reason I'm looking for suggestions of "must see" waypoints along the way so I can break the journey there (and back) into a whole bunch of shorter stages, each with a specific destination in mind along the route (and I don't mind taking a few detours either ... within reason).
I'm looking for all sorts of things. Systems of inherent natural beauty, awesome planets for a spot of SRV exploration, locations of cool stellar phenonema (I've only really seen the common variants in the bubble and not void hearts or peduncle trees for example) plus any other locations of special historical or community interest (for example, I definitely want to visit Evelyn's Light).
So ... please post your suggestions with descriptions (and preferably screenshots or short videos) and I'll start to try and compile a route plan here in the OP of this thread.
Colonia Connection Highway
Conflux abandoned settlements
"Evelyn's Light" - a memorial to jellowiggler's daughter (maybe take "Shan's Charis Orchid")
Thanks to @zibadian I've already been referred to EDSM's galactic map and prominent POI search facility plus its selection of interesting surface features, and also a few specific examples:
Floalt WC-C b16-6 (Chilled Views) - ice world with "spectacular views"
Trifid Sector OI-S b4-12 (Lucifer's Lair) - a rocky ice world in the trifid nebula with Pomeche like surface features
Nyeajaae IT-M c9-19 (Viridian Dreams) - a glowing green gas giant
Preae Ain CG-X e1-14 (Galactic Helium Reserve) - a system containing 23 Helium rich giants (a galactic record?)
Boeph ZJ-R e4-62 AB 1 a - planetary circumnavigation candidate (137 km Radius = 860.79 km circumference)
Spoihaae XE-X d2-9 (World of Death) - the planet that goes inside a neutron cone
Eol Prou RN-I C10-203 1 A - beautiful ridges to drive along
EOL PROU SR-W D1-1199 - binary pair of potato moons (maybe user geyser to jump between them?)
"Skaudai sites" - ruins of the Guardian exiles
Eoch Flyuae PY-R e4-684 (Clockwork nebula)
Clooku GR-U d3-112 (Fields of Elysium) - two ringed ELW's just 1ls apart
Smojoo ZE-R d4-109 (Musica Universalis) - An underappreciated system relatively close to the bubble but somewhat off the direct path
Eor Aowsy GR-W e1-1381 - glowing green giant
Eol Prou KW-L c8-32 - glowing green giant
Dryooe Prou FF-Z d696 - glowing green giant
"The festival grounds" - a short way before Colonia, has enough nebulae to keep you interested in finding your own sights for weeks[/url]
Things to see around Colonia
the twilight mountains of Concordia Hub in Edge Fraternity Landing
An 11g planet in KYLOALL CL-Y G1518 D1
Updated Traveller's Guide to Colonia, with some bonus content
Well, it's been an exciting six months out in Colonia with lots going on - expeditions, research, wars, community initiatives - and the Traveller's Guide for Colonia is definitely due for an update. information on the events of the last six months some new photographs (just one site still in...
TODO while I'm there ..
Rank up with Etienne Dorn (also the other Colonia engineers) and get Grade 5 lightweight life support pinned (see advice on levelling Colonia engineers, superceded by this update)DONEHave a go at the Colonia Trophy Dash Buckyball race.DONEClimb mountain at The Bone YardDONEHave a go at the "Surly buys a round" SRV time trial at Surly's Nest in Rodentia (see Buckyball Discord for details)DONEGo ridge running at Kraken's Retreat in the Los systemDONEUse a research limpet controller to get tissue samples from molluscs, etcDONEVisit Hyford's Wreck in the Colonia system, and the mysterious wreckage orbiting Kinesi 3bDONEVisit "Colonia Point" - a pair of Wolf-Rayet stars at Thaae Pruae AA-A h5 giving a spectacular view of the galactic plane.DONEDecide which Colonia engineer blueprints to pin based on information from operation La ForgeDONE
Table of locations
| Name | Description | System | Distance from Sol | Done? |
| Mammon Monitoring Facility | Asteroid Base (Colonia connection highway) | Mammon : 2 | 999 ly | Y |
| Hillary Depot | Planetary Outpost (Colonia connection highway) | Blu Thua AI-A c14-10 : A 4 a | 2,105 ly | Y |
| Amundsen Terminal | Planetary Outpost (Colonia connection highway) | Lagoon Sector NI-S b4-10 : 1 | 4,481 ly | |
| Attenborough's Watch | Asteroid Base (Colonia connection highway) | Lagoon Sector FW-W d1-122 : A 5 | 4,510 ly | Y |
| Musica Universalis | Underappreciated gas giant with colourful collection of moons | Smojoo ZE-R d4-109 | 4,737 ly | Y |
| Observation Post Epsilon | Asteroid Base (Colonia connection highway) | Trifid Sector IR-W d1-52 : 1 | 5,219 ly | |
| Rock of Isolation | Detention Centre (Colonia connection highway) | Omega Sector OD-S b4-0 : ABCD 1 | 5,503 ly | |
| Omega Mining Operation | Asteroid Base (Colonia connection highway) | Omega Sector VE-Q b5-15 : 7 | 5,513 ly | Y |
| Eagle Sector Secure Facility | Asteroid Base (Colonia connection highway) | Eagle Sector IR-W d1-105 : A 1 | 7,006 ly | |
| Eagle's Landing | Planetary Outpost (Colonia connection highway) | Eagle Sector IR-W d1-117 : 2 a | 7,018 ly | |
| Mjolnir's Wrath | Detention Centre (Colonia connection highway) | Nyeajaae VU-Y a27-9 : 1 a | 7,688 ly | |
| Eudaemon Anchorage | Ocellus Starport (Colonia connection highway) | Rohini : AB 1 | 7,692 ly | Y |
| Eudoxus Hithe | Outpost (Colonia connection highway) | ^^^ : AB 2 | ^^^ | Y |
| Alpha settlement | Conflux abandoned settlement | PRU AESCS TY-J A64-1 : 3 | 9,165 ly | Y |
| Beta settlement | Conflux abandoned settlement | PRU AESCS HW-S B31-2 : CD1 | 9,166 ly | Y |
| Delta settlement | Conflux abandoned settlement | PRU AESCS NC-M D7-192 : A3A | 9,167 ly | Y |
| Gamma settlement | Conflux abandoned settlement | PRU AESCS OI-K A64-0 : 1A | 9,169 ly | Y |
| Sacaqawea Space Port | Planetary Outpost (Colonia connection highway) | Skaudai CH-B d14-34 : 1 a | 11,797 ly | |
| Skaudai sites | Guardian ruins, sites 68, 69 and 92 | Skaudai AM-B d14-138 : A B 7 A | 11,797 ly | Y |
| Fields of Elysium | Two glorious ringed ELW's | Clooku GR-U d3-112 | 13,423 ly | Y |
| Gagarin Gate | Planetary Outpost (Colonia connection highway) | Gru Hypue KS-T d3-31 : 4 | 14,317 ly | |
| Penal Ship Omicron | Detention Centre (Colonia connection highway) | Stuelou AT-J c25-24 : 2 | 15,615 ly | |
| Caravanserai | Ocellus Starport (Colonia connection highway) | Gandharvi : A 1 | 15,620 ly | Y |
| Marlin's Reach | Outpost (Colonia connection highway) | ^^^ : BC 2 | ^^^ | Y |
| Polo Harbour | Planetary Outpost (Colonia connection highway) | Boewnst KS-S c20-959 : 2 a | 17,589 ly | Y |
| Eor Aowsy GR-W e1-1381 | Glowing green giant | Eor Aowsy GR-W e1-1381 : ? | 18,008 ly | Y |
| Boeph ZJ-R e4-62 AB 1 a | Planetary circumnavigation candidate | Boeph ZJ-R e4-62 : AB 1 a | 18,261 ly | |
| Vihara Gate | Ocellus Starport (Colonia connection highway) | Kashyapa : 1 | 19,470 ly | Y |
| Martyr's Rest | Outpost (Colonia connection highway) | ^^^ : 2 a | ^^^ | Y |
| Clockwork nebula | Nebula | Eoch Flyuae PY-R e4-684 | 19,648 ly | Y |
| XTE J1856+053 | Black hole on the edge of the "festival grounds" nebula collection | XTE J1856+053 | 21,000 ly | |
| Evelyn's Light | Memorial for jellowiggler's daughter | Evelyn's Light | 21,464 ly | Y |
| EOL PROU SR-W D1-1199 | Challenge to jump SRV between two binary worlds | EOL PROU SR-W D1-1199 | 21,725 ly | |
| World of Death | Planet inside neutron cone | Spoihaae XE-X d2-9 : A 1 | 21,817 ly | Y |
| Kremmen's Respite | Station named after ElvisKremmen | Kioti 368 | 21,972 ly | Y |
| Jaques Station | Colonia | Colonia | 22,000 ly | Y |
| Eol Prou KW-L c8-32 | Glowing green giant | Eol Prou KW-L c8-32 : ? | 22,006 ly | |
| Eol Prou RN-I C10-203 1 A | Planet with awesome ridges to drive along | Eol Prou RN-I C10-203 : 1 A | 22,058 ly | Y |
| Dryooe Prou FF-Z d696 | Glowing green giant | Dryooe Prou FF-Z d696 : ? | 22,821 ly |
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