Going to Colonia
- Thread starter Alec Turner
- Start date
Good to meet up with you both. I'll give the race a proper try myself, but it'll have to be when I have a bit more spare time, at my pace 
I can't imagine any of those detours made the route easier, though.
Well... Falling is fairly straightforward.
I was recording that effort too (but not streaming at that point). I'll see if I can put a video together of interesting moments.
Day 38 - 28.01.3307
DEATH, GLORY AND BEER
Hello. My name is Alec and I'm a Kraken-ridge-a-holic.
I am going to record a valid run on this damn ridge if it kills me. And it does. Numerous times.
But then, finally, in the cool glow of an early dawn ... a clean valid run. I hereby declare the Kraken 100 officially open with an initial time for everyone to try and beat of 23 minutes and 19 seconds.
In due course I'll create a new forum thread with a leaderboard and all the official rules but it's pretty simple. Start on the ridge at least 100km from Kraken's Retreat and at zero speed. Start the clock, race along the ridge to Kraken's Retreat, stop the clock when your SRV hits any part of the base. You must survive the run and eventually come to a complete stop. Synthesis SRV repair is not permitted. Instead you must make "pit stop" repairs by recalling your ship and boarding it.
Anyway ... after all that I seriously need a beer and there's really only one place to go! @Max Bothin of Likedeeler, pour me a pint 'cos I'm on my way!
A short while later I arrive and head to the bar.
After several fine German beers my memory of what happens next is hazy at best. At one point in the evening I seem to recall singing "Rocket Man" in an SRV many kilometers above the base ..
.. there was an incident where my autopilot (I was too drunk to fly) crashed the ship, lost all but 5% of its hull and then continued to try and push it further into the ground ..
.. and then I passed out. When I awoke I was somewhat surprised to find myself here.
It was only much later, while nursing my hangover with a coffee in a dock workers cafe that I found the following footage recorded on my PDA.
Apparently I'm the winner of the annual Stoertebeker "Spot The SRV" competition.
DEATH, GLORY AND BEER
Hello. My name is Alec and I'm a Kraken-ridge-a-holic.
I am going to record a valid run on this damn ridge if it kills me. And it does. Numerous times.
But then, finally, in the cool glow of an early dawn ... a clean valid run. I hereby declare the Kraken 100 officially open with an initial time for everyone to try and beat of 23 minutes and 19 seconds.
In due course I'll create a new forum thread with a leaderboard and all the official rules but it's pretty simple. Start on the ridge at least 100km from Kraken's Retreat and at zero speed. Start the clock, race along the ridge to Kraken's Retreat, stop the clock when your SRV hits any part of the base. You must survive the run and eventually come to a complete stop. Synthesis SRV repair is not permitted. Instead you must make "pit stop" repairs by recalling your ship and boarding it.
Anyway ... after all that I seriously need a beer and there's really only one place to go! @Max Bothin of Likedeeler, pour me a pint 'cos I'm on my way!
A short while later I arrive and head to the bar.
After several fine German beers my memory of what happens next is hazy at best. At one point in the evening I seem to recall singing "Rocket Man" in an SRV many kilometers above the base ..
.. there was an incident where my autopilot (I was too drunk to fly) crashed the ship, lost all but 5% of its hull and then continued to try and push it further into the ground ..
.. and then I passed out. When I awoke I was somewhat surprised to find myself here.
It was only much later, while nursing my hangover with a coffee in a dock workers cafe that I found the following footage recorded on my PDA.
Apparently I'm the winner of the annual Stoertebeker "Spot The SRV" competition.
Last edited:
You, sir, are a nut-case...
An affable one, for sure - but one no less!
Brilliant
An affable one, for sure - but one no less!
Brilliant
Great to see this! You are always welcomed. I will have myself a "Stoertebeker-Pils" (oops, I need backup, almost empty) this evening!
Wonderful story!
Wonderful story!
Day 39 - 29.01.3307
SURLY BUYS A SINGLE MALT
You know what I like to do after several days of SRV racing followed by a heavy drinking session?
A drink themed SRV race!
So the next stop on my whistlestop tour of Colonia is Surly's Nest in Rodentia, home to the Fuel Rat Colony and location of a semi-official Buckyball Race entitled Surly Buys A Round.
I catch Surly's Nest at dusk (could be dawn I suppose, hard to tell sometimes) and I must say it's a very pleasant looking little town.
Time for one quick selfie next to the town sign (having met Surly Badger for real on two occasions it's actually a genuine honour to be able to visit a place named after him) ..
.. and then it's on to the start line of the race which is just next to the letter 'C' at the base of the town's main radio telescope.
A quick prayer to gods of racing, one for ships ..
.. and one for SRVs ..
.. and then we're off. It takes a few practice laps to get the hang of the course and then I put in some timed runs of the one-lap "Single Malt" class. My best time today is 3 minutes 18 seconds (I'll have to wait for the race's organiser @Hojothefool to verify that the run is valid).
Hmmm, that 3 minute barrier is awfully tantalising plus I still need to make runs in the "Double Shot", "Surly Bomb" and "Back To Rehab" classes ... I may be here for some time!
SURLY BUYS A SINGLE MALT
You know what I like to do after several days of SRV racing followed by a heavy drinking session?
A drink themed SRV race!
So the next stop on my whistlestop tour of Colonia is Surly's Nest in Rodentia, home to the Fuel Rat Colony and location of a semi-official Buckyball Race entitled Surly Buys A Round.
I catch Surly's Nest at dusk (could be dawn I suppose, hard to tell sometimes) and I must say it's a very pleasant looking little town.
Time for one quick selfie next to the town sign (having met Surly Badger for real on two occasions it's actually a genuine honour to be able to visit a place named after him) ..
.. and then it's on to the start line of the race which is just next to the letter 'C' at the base of the town's main radio telescope.
A quick prayer to gods of racing, one for ships ..
.. and one for SRVs ..
.. and then we're off. It takes a few practice laps to get the hang of the course and then I put in some timed runs of the one-lap "Single Malt" class. My best time today is 3 minutes 18 seconds (I'll have to wait for the race's organiser @Hojothefool to verify that the run is valid).
Hmmm, that 3 minute barrier is awfully tantalising plus I still need to make runs in the "Double Shot", "Surly Bomb" and "Back To Rehab" classes ... I may be here for some time!
Last edited:
Day 40 - 30.01.3307
SURLY BUYS ALL THE DRINKS!
So let's start this by going back over the rules for the "Surly Buys A Round" race.
I turns out I wasn't really following the spirit of the rules with my previous attempt as you actually have to start with the front of your SRV pressed up against that 'C' wall and then reverse out. OK, let's try that one again shall we, properly this time.
Source: https://youtu.be/hwHfp7H9FtE
Right, that's a 3:25 for the "Single Malt". Next up is the 2 lap run.
Source: https://youtu.be/fpMyZ5i1bFw
My "Double Shot" time is 6:51 (for an average of 3:25.5 per lap). I'm in a nice groove now so I move straight on to the 5-lap run.
Source: https://youtu.be/su2E-gyY7dg
Final time on the "Surly Bomb" is 16:57 (or an average of 3:23.5 per lap).
And last, but not least, we need to go "Back To Rehab" by running the course in reverse. This proves somewhat tricky because of the need to boost up unto the platform with the large pipes but eventually I find a mound which provides just enough of a kicker to do it.
Source: https://youtu.be/SNfDvawd3Js
The time for that one is 3:35, so slightly slower than going forwards but not bad, not bad at all.
I submit my runs and joke about how difficult it would be to make that jump from the "Back To Rehab" run while driving in reverse but Hojo assures me that the whole "reverse" thing wasn't supposed to be taken seriously ... but if there is a way to pull it off, I will surely make a "You need an Intervention" category.
Hmmm.
I mean ... I suppose I could position the vanity camera facing backwards ...
And I could reverse all the steering and attitude thruster controls ...
What the hell, eternal greatness here I come!
Source: https://youtu.be/5wV7FUMoz0Y
Without the HUD clock I don't have excellent proof of my time but from the raw video (below) I make that a time of 3:56.
SURLY BUYS ALL THE DRINKS!
So let's start this by going back over the rules for the "Surly Buys A Round" race.
Single malt : 1 Lap
Double Shot: 2 Laps
Surly Bomb: 5 Laps
Back To Rehab : 1 lap in opposite direction (or for eternal greatness do it while driving in reverse)
- For multiple laps you pass with Blackout pylon on your right side instead of crashing it.
- SRV repairs can be made at the end of a lap once you pass blackout pylon.
Start with your srv touching AND facing the 'west' C wall, and go around the structure clockwise.
Finish by booping Black Out Pylon!
I turns out I wasn't really following the spirit of the rules with my previous attempt as you actually have to start with the front of your SRV pressed up against that 'C' wall and then reverse out. OK, let's try that one again shall we, properly this time.
Right, that's a 3:25 for the "Single Malt". Next up is the 2 lap run.
My "Double Shot" time is 6:51 (for an average of 3:25.5 per lap). I'm in a nice groove now so I move straight on to the 5-lap run.
Final time on the "Surly Bomb" is 16:57 (or an average of 3:23.5 per lap).
And last, but not least, we need to go "Back To Rehab" by running the course in reverse. This proves somewhat tricky because of the need to boost up unto the platform with the large pipes but eventually I find a mound which provides just enough of a kicker to do it.
The time for that one is 3:35, so slightly slower than going forwards but not bad, not bad at all.
I submit my runs and joke about how difficult it would be to make that jump from the "Back To Rehab" run while driving in reverse but Hojo assures me that the whole "reverse" thing wasn't supposed to be taken seriously ... but if there is a way to pull it off, I will surely make a "You need an Intervention" category.
Hmmm.
I mean ... I suppose I could position the vanity camera facing backwards ...
And I could reverse all the steering and attitude thruster controls ...
What the hell, eternal greatness here I come!
Without the HUD clock I don't have excellent proof of my time but from the raw video (below) I make that a time of 3:56.
Last edited:
A distinct shortage of pretty screenies above for me, @Alec Turner 
Oooo...
I can see this one! Are the above linked in from an external site?
I thought I'd sorted out the silly cookie handling... apparently not
Oh wait ... are you not seeing all the videos? Yeah, that's down to you not accepting marketing cookies here I suspect.Oooo...
I can see this one! Are the above linked in from an external site?
I thought I'd sorted out the silly cookie handling... apparently not
P.S. I've tweaked the original post so it now also includes the "Source" links which should give people who can't see videos on the forum itself a way to access them directly on youtube.
Last edited:
Thank you, good sir, I now can watch the videos!
(Apparently Firefox has 'reverted' after my latest security checks... Oh well, I'll get on it!)
sorry, that's simply not going to happen.
smart guy! i sense a successful entertainer in you!
btw, you don't have to "tweak" anything, simply paste the url into the post, it works. avoid the "media" buttons of the editor and you'll be fine.
Strictly speaking I should have said "un-tweak". Normally I edit in raw bbcode mode so for videos I just put in a simple [media=youtube] tag but I then went back and re-did the post in wysiwyg mode to let the forum put in its little "source" links.
Incidentally, is there much/any actual "marketing" from forums.frontier.co.uk to be afraid of?
as a matter of ease of use:
a simple youtube url embedded in text has the effect of the video being embedded and the source url still displayed. providing the source of stuff is still an excellent habit in itself, but this also makes the content more universally accessible and allows the user to control how he/she is going to consume the information. ironically in this case, the minimal effort on your part is the option which conduces to maximum user friendliness and accessibility.
as a matter of hygiene:
content creators do have a right to try to monetize, but it is simply poor form when a publisher
sorry, no cookies for frontier and their dubious new friends.
Last edited:
Day 41 - 31.01.3307
MINING BOOM AT FOSTER TERMINAL
Not too many things left on my list to do here now. I go and take a quick peak at Concordia Hub in Edge Fraternity Landing (what an awesome system name) but, although I can see the Twilight Mountains, they're sadly in darkness today.
Moving on from there I head over to Foster Terminal in Coeus which, as I've come to expect from the Colonia region, is another spectacular location. It's a megaship holding its position magestically on the outer edge of an asteroid field (although I dread to imagine what their annual fuel bills must be).
I head in for a closer look ..
.. and eventually land.
I can't help but wonder, while sat here within spitting distance of these rocks, whether any of them have the fissures that would enable me to plant charges and blow the rock apart within sight of the megaship, wouldn't that be spectacular? Well, only one way to find out so I head back to Jaques to fit the necessary equipment and about 20 mins later I'm back and analysing the asteroids surrounding Foster Terminal looking for that tell-tale yellow glow.
Sadly the nearest one I can find is over 10km away so in the following shot the megaship, while visible (slightly above and to the right of the engine trail you can see), is some way off in the distance (I did manage to catch that passing Anaconda in the blast tho).
Not really the spectacle I was hoping for, I dare say the megaship crew cleared the immediate area when they first got here. Oh well, worth a try.
MINING BOOM AT FOSTER TERMINAL
Not too many things left on my list to do here now. I go and take a quick peak at Concordia Hub in Edge Fraternity Landing (what an awesome system name) but, although I can see the Twilight Mountains, they're sadly in darkness today.
Moving on from there I head over to Foster Terminal in Coeus which, as I've come to expect from the Colonia region, is another spectacular location. It's a megaship holding its position magestically on the outer edge of an asteroid field (although I dread to imagine what their annual fuel bills must be).
I head in for a closer look ..
.. and eventually land.
I can't help but wonder, while sat here within spitting distance of these rocks, whether any of them have the fissures that would enable me to plant charges and blow the rock apart within sight of the megaship, wouldn't that be spectacular? Well, only one way to find out so I head back to Jaques to fit the necessary equipment and about 20 mins later I'm back and analysing the asteroids surrounding Foster Terminal looking for that tell-tale yellow glow.
Sadly the nearest one I can find is over 10km away so in the following shot the megaship, while visible (slightly above and to the right of the engine trail you can see), is some way off in the distance (I did manage to catch that passing Anaconda in the blast tho).
Not really the spectacle I was hoping for, I dare say the megaship crew cleared the immediate area when they first got here. Oh well, worth a try.
Last edited:
Have you visited Carcosa yet?
Asteroid station orbiting a Lava body does make for some awesome screenies too...
The screenie is from when it was a nice system to call 'home'... Nowadays all I do there is mine for Tritium
Asteroid station orbiting a Lava body does make for some awesome screenies too...
The screenie is from when it was a nice system to call 'home'... Nowadays all I do there is mine for Tritium
Day 42 - 01.02.3307
RIDGE RUNNING
Well my friends, it feels like my time in Colonia is coming to an end. Don't get me wrong, I could easily spend several more months out here seeing further sights, running missions to improve my reputation with some of the local factions, trying to get a better time in the Trophy Dash and who knows, maybe even earning some money. But ... A) I feel like I'm at risk of repeating myself in these logs and B) there's a new Buckyball race starting back in the bubble next weekend which I'd REALLY like to take part in. My original plan was to hitch a ride back on a fleet carrier, spend a week doing the race, and then hitch back again to continue my Colonia adventure. But as I think about it more I'm tending towards the idea of spending this week Buckyballing it back to the bubble using the neutron superhighway (stopping off at Evelyn's Light and the Skaudai Guardian ruins along the way).
But that's for tomorrow.
Today I take a quick trip back to Santos Dumont, but the jump to Garuda (for an improved Trophy Dash run) is still severely obscured, and I take a quick trip back to the Twilight Mountains of Concordia Hub but they're still heavily on the dark side of the planet (it's almost as if Colonia is trying to tell me something). So instead I turn back to the main waypoint spreadsheet and spot that Eol Prou RN-I C10-203 1 A, the planet with awesome ridges to ride, is only two jumps away. I make a quick trip back to Jaques to ditch the mining gear (again), refit for exploration (and who knows, maybe even the long trip back to the bubble) and head off.
As I'd hoped, it's a fabulous planet whose entire surface is covered with long deep ridges.
Not much more to say. I set down at the green circle and spend about an hour driving along the ridge down towards the orange circle (and beyond?), taking occasional photos as I go.
It's glorious scenery, probably the most dramatic moment being when I'm faced with the following, the ridge dropping away steeply and then rising up again further along (at least I hope it's the same ridge ... otherwise I'm in trouble).
Source: https://youtu.be/_lyNyaYHWcg
Made it! And here's the view looking back the way I came ..
A short while later I end up hitting a gravitational anomaly and decide to call it a day.
Tomorrow, unless I have a dramatic change of mind, I begin the long journey home!
RIDGE RUNNING
Well my friends, it feels like my time in Colonia is coming to an end. Don't get me wrong, I could easily spend several more months out here seeing further sights, running missions to improve my reputation with some of the local factions, trying to get a better time in the Trophy Dash and who knows, maybe even earning some money. But ... A) I feel like I'm at risk of repeating myself in these logs and B) there's a new Buckyball race starting back in the bubble next weekend which I'd REALLY like to take part in. My original plan was to hitch a ride back on a fleet carrier, spend a week doing the race, and then hitch back again to continue my Colonia adventure. But as I think about it more I'm tending towards the idea of spending this week Buckyballing it back to the bubble using the neutron superhighway (stopping off at Evelyn's Light and the Skaudai Guardian ruins along the way).
But that's for tomorrow.
Today I take a quick trip back to Santos Dumont, but the jump to Garuda (for an improved Trophy Dash run) is still severely obscured, and I take a quick trip back to the Twilight Mountains of Concordia Hub but they're still heavily on the dark side of the planet (it's almost as if Colonia is trying to tell me something). So instead I turn back to the main waypoint spreadsheet and spot that Eol Prou RN-I C10-203 1 A, the planet with awesome ridges to ride, is only two jumps away. I make a quick trip back to Jaques to ditch the mining gear (again), refit for exploration (and who knows, maybe even the long trip back to the bubble) and head off.
As I'd hoped, it's a fabulous planet whose entire surface is covered with long deep ridges.
Not much more to say. I set down at the green circle and spend about an hour driving along the ridge down towards the orange circle (and beyond?), taking occasional photos as I go.
It's glorious scenery, probably the most dramatic moment being when I'm faced with the following, the ridge dropping away steeply and then rising up again further along (at least I hope it's the same ridge ... otherwise I'm in trouble).
Made it! And here's the view looking back the way I came ..
A short while later I end up hitting a gravitational anomaly and decide to call it a day.
Tomorrow, unless I have a dramatic change of mind, I begin the long journey home!
Last edited:
Yes - probably another few months before winter ends there, unfortunately. Well, there's got to be some incentive for you to come back sometime.
Some of these views do take patience - there's a particular screenshot from Prisma Renata which I knew was possible but it took me four years to actually be there at the right time for it